Zelene Blancas, an El Paso, Texas, teacher who taught her students kindness, loses her battle with Covid-19

#Blancas tested positive for coronavirus #October 20 and days later, she was hospitalized, her brother, #Mario #Blancas, told CNN. #After weeks of showing signs of recovery and taking steps on her own, her oxygen levels dropped, and she was intubated #November 22.

The otherwise healthy 35-year-old never came off the ventilator, her brother said. #She spent two months in the hospital before dying of complications from #Covid-19, her family said.

The way she lived her life and how she spread a message of kindness to her students and everyone around her is how her family wants to remember #Zelene, he said.

“#Even though sometimes being a teacher is kind of tough … she always looked at the positive way,” #Blancas said. “I didn’t know until now, but she was a walking angel.”

#Zelene #Blancas leaves behind her parents, #Gloria #Luna and #Victor #Blancas, her brother and her niece, #Natalia. #Her babies were her two dogs, #Rocky and #Chico.

#She taught her students to be kind

#Chavira said she remembers when #Blancas captured the video just before the holiday break in #November 2018. The video showed a line of students saying goodbye to a classmate, having picked a hug, handshake, high five or fist bump.

“#That was her class every day. #It wasn’t anything that she did special or anything new,” #Chavira said. “The culture in her classroom was very caring, very loving. #She taught her kids to be kind to each other and truly look at each other as a family.”

The video was a glimpse the type of classroom environment #Blancas fostered and it represented who the teacher was.

“#That in itself was her,” #Chavira said. “#That in itself tells you the culture she created in her classroom.”

#Blancas was a bilingual teacher and most of her students were learning #English, #Chavira said. #Some of her students were new to the country and others were new to the area. #It was up to #Blancas to make both the parents and the students feels comfortable.

“#Teachers do more than teach,” she said. “The success that she had in her classroom, with her students, with her families, was because she had that passion to make a difference and to take it beyond academics for the students.”

#Blancas was the first to help new colleagues and the first to help anyone who needed it, #Chavira said.

“#We are all hurting because we know what a great future she had ahead of her,” #Chavira said. “#She was a shining star. #Our community, our students, her family, is short that smile, that love, that warmth that she contributed.”

#Chavira said you could see #Blancas’ passion “the moment that you would meet her.”

#She spread love and kindness with pink socks

#That passion spread to the world in #Blancas’ many tweets about her students, her classroom and her work with a non-profit meant to spread kindness.

#Nick #Adkins met #Blancas on #Twitter in 2018 when he saw her video of her students hugging and leaving the classroom.

The idea is that anyone who gets the pink socks becomes a part of the mission to spread love and empathy and #Blancas “lived the ethos of gifting every day,” he said.

“#Zelene #Blancas was the best of humanity,” #Adkins wrote. “The ripple effect of love and kindness that she put out into the universe through teaching her kids through the years is immeasurable.”

#Blancas lived the mission and her legacy is the mission, #Adkins wrote to CNN.

“#Ms. #Blancas and the entire staff and students at #Shook are what we should all strive for each and every day, each and every now. #She lives on in the love that she taught and spread,” he wrote.

#Pinksocks #Life raised the money and donated 1,337 pink socks to the school, #Adkins wrote in a blog post.

“#Her idea was basically to promote kindness because lately there has been a lot of bullying, so she wanted to flip that and make those students change and believe in kindness,” her brother said.

#Blancas said his sister was working on a passion project of her own, one he hopes he can bring to light. #She was writing a children’s book and had already drawn the illustrations, he said.

#It was his sister who also inspired #Blancas to become a teacher’s aide and follow in her footsteps, he said.

“#She was a mentor to me in a personal and professional way,” #Blancas said. “#Thanks to her I’m going to follow her legacy and I’m going to become a teacher.”