Being a legacy at TAG
Most days at the School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center start the same way. Before the first bell rings, a steady trickle of students slips into the main office—not because they’re in trouble, but because they want to say hello to the woman behind the counter.
That woman is Velia Saucedo, a clerk who for 22 years has been a quiet constant in a school built on acceleration and achievement.
Saucedo’s path to education started at the old Norman Robert Crozier Technical High School, where she graduated in 1965. At Crozier, she first enrolled to study hairdressing, then switched to business, a choice that launched her into more than three decades in banking.
“I worked in a bank when I first got out of high school,” she recalled. “I’ve processed loans, I took payments, I translated for people that wanted to get loans, just about everything there. I’ve had a lot of banking experience, customer service experience.”
For over 30 years, she moved through Merchant State Bank, Peoples State Bank, and Guaranty Bank and Trust. Then, after a layoff, she suddenly found herself at home briefly.
Saucedo had been off for less than 30 days, she said, when her husband, a Spanish teacher who worked at TAG, asked former Principal Michael Satarino if there were any openings.
“I applied for the clerk position, and I’ve been here since 2004,” she said.
The school she joined back then was much smaller. When she started, TAG had barely 200 students, with only 60 in the graduating class. Now, the school has over 500 students, she said.
She remembers when applications were all done in person, with families lining up in the office.
“We used to process applications in person,” she explained. “We had to verify all the documentation to ensure everything was in order before accepting it. Now, everything is computerized.”
The systems have changed, but Saucedo’s way of caring hasn’t. Officially, she greets visitors, supports the office manager, fields calls for the principal, and helps teachers with forms and logistics. Unofficially, she’s a mentor, encourager, and sometimes a surrogate family member.
“Sometimes the kids come in and joke with me,” she said. “They’ll greet me with a ‘Good morning,’ and when I ask what they need, they say, ‘Oh, nothing, I just wanted to say hello.’ That makes me feel good.”
Saucedo is especially attentive to students who come in late or look downcast.
“If they come in sad, I’ll ask what’s wrong. They usually say they’re just tired, so I tell them, ‘You’re here. Let’s get going.’ Then they give me a big smile and move on,” she said. “The kids give me motivation.”
But behind Saucedo’s calm presence is a life shaped by responsibility and resilience. Her husband taught Spanish for 34 years at several Dallas ISD campuses before he retired due to serious health issues and later passed away in 2018. For seven years, Saucedo also cared for her mother.
“You do what you have to do to take care of your family,” she said. “I feel good knowing I did that.”
Now at 79, she still works full time, despite knee problems and long days on her feet.
“I can still move,” she said. “Hopefully, next year will be my last. I’m retiring at 80 because it’s time.”
Ask what she hopes people will remember about her, and her answer is characteristically unpretentious.
“I hope they remember me as the person who was never absent,” she said. “I want to be the one they can always come and talk to—like a mother at school.”
