Inducted in 2019
Prep Teacher & Director of Diversity (1979-2017)
Mother of a Prep Graduate

For Prep boys of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, Señora would always be more than just another form of address.  It was a term of endearment.  It was an appellation of great respect and great affection.  It was how they would call their beloved Mrs. Piñeiro.

Wanda Marrero was born in the Bronx in 1955.  The daughter of Pablo Marrero, a taxi cab driver, and Maria Florencia de Marrero, a seamstress, Wanda grew up in a bilingual household in the South Bronx where faith, family, hard work and education were valued above all.  

A young girl with a sharp mind and beautiful handwriting, Wanda attended P.S. 39 on Longwood Avenue and James Monroe High School in the Soundview section of the Bronx, coming of age in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, a tumultuous yet exciting time of great change.  Bright, passionate, and unafraid to speak her mind, Miss Marrero never felt the need to stand on the sidelines, and was no stranger to the marches, rallies and protests of the time.

Graduating James Monroe in 1973, Wanda was accepted to NYU on a full scholarship — “an incredible opportunity for a girl from the South Bronx,” she would later remark.  She received her BS in Spanish and Portuguese in 1977 and would continue with her studies, eventually completing her MA in 1983.

After her undergraduate days at NYU, Wanda Marrero became Wanda Piñeiro, marrying Rudolfo “Rudy” Piñeiro, a commercial truck driver.  They would raise two children together, Michael and Skyler.  In time, Skyler would come to make the daily trip across the Bronx to Rose Hill with his mother and graduate a member of the Prep Class of 1999.

Señora Piñeiro officially joined the Prep Faculty in September of 1979, although her association with the school had begun a bit earlier.  The Prep had reached out to NYU looking for a Spanish teacher to cover summer classes, and Wanda’s name was offered.  She would be first hired, in a sense, by fellow Hall of Honor inductee, John “Jack” Foley, who in those days headed up the Summer Program.  “Jack was a mentor to me,” she has noted.  They have remained friends and colleagues for decades.  

As soon as Piñeiro was a full-fledged member of the Modern Languages Department, she began to make her mark on the hearts and minds of her students as well as on the institution itself, becoming one of the first women to receive tenure at Fordham Prep, in 1984.  Only fitting that she would be the first maestra inducted to the Prep’s Hall of Honor.

Over her remarkable 38-year career, Mrs. Piñeiro would teach every level of Spanish, including Spanish Heritage, AP Spanish Language, and AP Spanish Literature.  As longtime department chairwoman, Wanda would usher in honors classes in all languages, create the annual Modern Language Fair, and introduce Mandarin and Arabic to the Prep’s course offerings.

Outside the classroom, Wanda’s influential contributions to the Prep included her various accomplishments as Director of Diversity, including the Prep’s Multicultural Night celebrations, and her institution of the annual Diversity Summit, a conference of students and faculty from several area high schools coming together to explore issues of inclusion and justice.

Starting in 2002, Piñeiro also served as the Director of the Summer Academy for rising 7th grade boys.  Through this important work, she led a program that sought to foster and support a community of high achieving students from the Bronx, inspire them to be excited about learning and prepare them for success in Catholic high schools. 

For many years under Señora’s watchful eye, Room 232 was the afterschool home of the Academic Support Group where students could meet for additional guidance and encouragement with their studies, assistance with their homework, and advice for successful time management.

Prep students also looked to Mrs. Piñeiro for nearly four decades as la moderadora of the Fordham Prep Spanish Club, a student organization celebrating the language and cultures of Latin America and Spain.  One outgrowth of her moderatorship was the annual Hispanic Heritage Night — evenings of food, fun, and dancing for students, alumni and their families.

For her decades of extraordinary service and pedagoicial innovation, Wanda Piñeiro was honored in 2007 by New York's El Diario/La Prensa as an "Outstanding Latina of the Community" at their annual Mujeres Destacadas Luncheon.  She retired from Fordham Prep in 2017, although the career profesora would find herself involved with other educational endeavors soon enough, including a stint as Dean of Students at St. Barnabas High School in Yonkers, New York.

One of the principles informing Jesuit education is the concept of cura personalis, care for the individual as a whole.  As any of the thousands of Prep boys Mrs. Piñeiro has ever taught, mentored, or moderated could attest, her concern was of the highest order — cura personalissima, as it were — a unique blend of warmth and toughness, combined with her unfailing ability to see the intrinsic dignity in each and every one of them.

To capture the sentiment of the many former students who nominated Wanda Marrero Piñeiro to the Hall of Honor: Gracias por todo, Señora.  En muchos sentidos, siempre Usted estará en el corazón de la comunidad de Fordham Prep.