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It's a nickname that, without context, certainly wouldn't be so endearing.

But Valerie Flores wears it with pride.

She is the 鈥淧ole Lady.鈥�

That鈥檚 what one of the most visible, and passionate, of all UNM Lobo fans was dubbed by one of her 鈥渓ittles鈥� 鈥� her students 鈥� last fall at the Fort Worth, Texas, elementary school where she helps kids with dyslexia learn to read. Her classroom is decked out with cherry and silver, pom-poms, a large UNM rug on the floor, and, of course, those very identifiable yellow New Mexico state flags.

It's those flags 鈥� one bright yellow New Mexico flag and often a cherry and silver Lobos one 鈥� atop a 20-foot pole that she can be seen waving in the crowd during ESPN鈥檚 鈥淐ollege Game Day,鈥� the popular live television broadcast each Saturday morning on the campus of the biggest college football game of the week. It鈥檚 an event that draws thousands in person each week and millions of viewers around the world.

She鈥檚 been to 21 of them (and counting).

She is one of the particularly dedicated fanatics carrying out the growing tradition of New Mexicans being spotted at various sporting events pridefully waving the country's best-looking state flag 鈥� the yellow, Zia symbol-emblazoned beauty of New Mexico.

For Valerie, it all started with an understandable point to prove.

鈥淚 needed to let everyone know I鈥檓 a New Mexican,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 care what it says on my driver鈥檚 license!鈥�

The easy-to-spot yellow flag 鈥� hers and that of others 鈥� can be spotted in the end zones of NFL games, college basketball arenas, at MLB games and more. As I often note when sharing images people send me with their flag, 鈥淣ew Mexicans can鈥檛 attend major sporting events without bringing their state flag. Those are the rules.鈥�

For Valerie, born and raised around the race tracks of New Mexico 鈥� her dad a jockey, her mom a trainer 鈥� her flag days have been plenty: all those ESPN shows, tons of Lobo games of all sports, pro baseball games, even a World Series parade in Arlington where UNM graduate and former Texas Ranger Mitch Garver spotted her and her flags in a crowd, quickly flashed a knowing 鈥渨oof, woof, woof鈥� hand gesture.

Earlier this month, she and her bright yellow flag could be spotted behind one of the goals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the Egypt-Australia World Cup match. Sitting in a section of Egyptian supporters and telling them stories about what the flag and Zia symbol represent (a full history of the symbol, what it means to the Zia Pueblo and how it actually became our state flag could be its own column sometime) led to her asking a man sitting in the front row if he would mind her draping her flag over the edge of where he was sitting for the whole stadium, and world, to see. He offered her the seat next to him.

Throughout the match, the man told her his family and friends back home in Egypt were able to easily spot him thanks to him telling them he was sitting next to the beautiful yellow flag behind the goal.

Those are the stories that lead me to refer to Valerie as 鈥淣ew Mexico鈥檚 flag bearer.鈥�

But it鈥檚 stories like one she shared of the girl who gave her the 鈥淧ole Lady鈥� nickname that led to this column and gifted me with one of my favorite work memories ever.

This past Thanksgiving, I wrote a column with snippets about people off the playing field who I thought UNM should be thankful for. Frankly, it was a precursor of sorts to what this weekly column might be.

One note in the column was on Valerie, a 2000 UNM graduate with degrees in biology and Spanish who went into teaching only after realizing her first job out of college at the Fort Worth Zoo wasn鈥檛 the dream career she had envisioned. I wrote about her Lobo fandom and finished it up by putting in print for all her friends and family back here in New Mexico to see that her students lovingly refer to her as the 鈥淧ole Lady.鈥�

The following week, I received a voicemail that I don鈥檛 plan to ever delete.

鈥淵esterday, I had a real-world reading with one of my groups and so I pulled up your article, and the girl that called me the 鈥楶ole Lady,鈥� I had her read it,鈥� Valerie told me of a fourth-grader named Yamilee.

鈥淪he read the whole thing flawlessly. ... She sounded great. She kept reading and reading and reading and when she got to the end, she just stopped. I said, 鈥楰eep reading.鈥�

鈥淪o she read it and she started crying. She said, 鈥楢re you telling me that the words I said are in the newspaper?鈥� I said, 鈥榃ell, you can see it, can鈥檛 you?' She started crying, 鈥業 have to tell my mom I'm in the newspaper!鈥欌��

Valerie, emotional in the voicemail, thanked me and said that I had 鈥済ifted (Yamilee) something wonderful.鈥�

Hardly.

You see, Yamilee is going into the fifth grade this coming school year. And according to Valerie, she's the 鈥渟assiest little thing I鈥檝e ever met who still tells me at school whenever she sees me, 鈥業 made you famous!鈥欌��

That young Texan full of sass also happens to be a great reader and writer today with a world of possibilities in front of her thanks in large part to spending the past three years with Valerie.

鈥淲hen I first started working with her (in second grade), she was a nonreader,鈥� Valerie recalls. 鈥淚 distinctly remember her seeing four letters in a word 鈥� we started with three-letter words, and she was OK. But you add that fourth letter on and she just looked at me. She would said 鈥榥o.鈥欌��

Yamilee is one of countless kids Valerie has helped over the past two decades as a certified academic language therapist.

鈥淭hat's a fancy way of saying it. I just say I鈥檓 a reading teacher,鈥� Valerie said. According to the Academic Language Therapy Association website, her job is one that hones in on intensive, individualized therapy with students who have dyslexia or related learning differences.

What Valerie鈥檚 really doing is helping young people rewire their brains a bit. Most kids aren鈥檛 incapable learners, but not all do it the same way. Some need help figuring out how to get their brains to process the same information, but in a way that works for them.

It's been working for Yamilee.

In fact, she even went to an event at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth sometime over the past couple years and, like her teacher, figured she better bring a sign to stand out.

鈥淕o Lodos!鈥� it read 鈥� a shout to her teacher and her adoptive favorite team some 620 miles to the west. And yes, it even had an unintentional reminder of a brilliant young brain still very much figuring itself out.

Thinking about that sign and moments like that November day when her student was brought to tears of joy reading her own words in a newspaper article are what Valerie says make her job worthwhile.

Same here, 鈥淧ole Lady.鈥� Same here.

Geoff Grammer writes a Monday front-page column for the Journal. He ordinarily covers Sports, especially Lobos basketball. Have feedback or a column idea? Reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .