Emily Meschter, left, provided the scholarship that took Vanessa Oaxaca, 22, through Pima Community College and Northern Arizona University. Oaxaca now teaches at Laguna Elementary School.

Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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Vanessa Oaxaca asked the students in her fifth-grade class to write down their dreams.

So in their best handwriting, the Laguna Elementary School students wrote about how they dream of becoming doctors, professional chefs, police officers and soccer stars.

The lesson was tied to a book about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that Oaxaca read to her class on Monday.

Whether it was coincidence or not, the lesson also was tied to a visit by Emily Meschter.

About 14 years ago, Meschter promised a group of Laguna fourth-graders a free college education.

Oaxaca, 22, was one of those fourth-graders, and she had her tuition at Pima Community College and Northern Arizona University covered by Meschter and her "I Have a Dream" program.

At the time of the offer, Oaxaca couldn't comprehend what it meant.

"I knew my parents were excited, so I was excited," Oaxaca said. "I really didn't know what I was excited for."

Meschter offered to cover in-state in Arizona, but some of the students attended schools in Boston, San Diego and Utah. She said about 30 students have attended some type of school, although not all of them went to a four-year college.

Five of those students are or plan to be teachers.

Meschter said she doesn't care much about whether the students obtain college diplomas.

"The idea was to get them to be literate, employable, responsible adults," she said.

At first, Oaxaca, who is a first-year teacher, pursued a career in nursing, but she changed her mind two years into college after volunteering at a local YMCA. She learned that she wanted to interact with children on a daily basis.

Meschter visited Oaxaca's class Monday and wandered around the room as students put their dreams on paper. She told them that they were lucky to have Oaxaca as a teacher.

"She is wonderful," Meschter said. "She is a beginning teacher, yet she is very qualified in the classroom. Usually they are just terrified."

Oaxaca acknowledged having some jitters. She even misplaced the keys to her classroom on the first day of school.

Now she can't get enough of her students.

"You become strongly attached," Oaxaca said. "Christmas break was rough on me."

Her students say she's as nice as they come, but she can be tough.

"She's mean, but she's not too mean," 10-year-old Micheal James said. "She doesn't let the kids tell her what to do. She's nice about it."

Oaxaca pushes her students and will keep them inside at lunchtime if they don't complete their work.

"I want to be the one that keeps pushing," Oaxaca said. "I push them to go above and beyond what they can do."

Meschter, who moved from New York City to Tucson in 1989 after a career in finance, continues to back the Flowing Wells Unified School District, which includes Laguna Elementary School.

She supports mariachi programs and funds small grants for teachers.

And she wants those former fourth-graders to pay it forward in some way.

Oaxaca might not know it, but she already is paying Meschter back.

"One of my dreams is to be a teacher so I can help the kids like Ms. Oaxaca does," 10-year-old Ravin Bell said. "I want to follow in her footsteps."