Not all heroes wear capes — some wear scrubs. The Long Beach Unified School District’s Long Beach School Nurses Association hosted their annual end-of-year soiree recently, where they honored the 2026 School Nurse of the Year.
This year’s honoree is particularly special to me as my own superhero and mother, Anamaria Fife, was named this year’s “SNOTY” award recipient.
Despite the humorous acronym, my mom is the opposite of snotty. Newcomb Academy nurse CJ Holder, the 2025 SNOTY and this year’s award presenter, said it best when describing my mom as compassionate but also no-nonsense — a combination that allows her to excel in the field of nursing and motherhood.
Anamaria Fife started her career as a nurse in the Coronary/Cardiac Unit of Lakewood Memorial Regional before making the transition into the school district. While she at first made the move for the benefit of her family — myself being in elementary school, my older brother Tim being in middle school and my eldest brother Nico being in high school — she also questioned the choice when starting at Jackie Robinson and Birney Elementary in 2015.
Even though her superhero abilities came out whenever she was taking care of her three kids, it never stopped us from saying exactly what was on our minds — sometimes humbling her when we didn’t mean to. When she first transitioned from the chaos of the Open Heart Ward to being a school nurse, my brother Tim questioned my mom on her choice to hand out icepacks and band-aids to kids all day.
“I had no clue — none. I just said ‘okay’ to everything, and I remember sitting in my office at Birney thinking, ‘What have I done?’” Anamaria Fife said. “It’s a real juggling act for all of us that are here that are school nurses. We juggle all day long, and I don’t think people realize how much we’re juggling.”
After her first three years in the district, she moved over to a three-school assignment with Burcham Elementary, MacArthur Elementary and Marshall Academy of the Arts. It was this transition that allowed her to find her “jam,” as she said, working in middle schools.
Anamaria slowly spent more time at Marshall over the years before fully transitioning to the site full-time. Through the journey she has had in the district, Fife said she is eternally grateful to be a part of Marshall’s “Ramily.”
“The best thing about Marshall is the relationship that I have with all of these people,” Fife said while acknowledging the school staff that came to support her at the banquet. “I took this job for the schedule, the benefits, for the Fife family. I keep this job for the Fife family, but I come back every day for that family.”
Marshall principal Edward Steinhauser, son of former superintendent Chris Steinhauser, was one of the staff members in attendance supporting Fife and her award. Although the ceremony only allotted time for Fife’s acceptance speech, Steinhauser stepped up to the microphone to brag about his nurse.
“You were being humble. You are the heartbeat,” Steinhauser said to Fife. “The relationships you have with students, with parents and with us, it’s more than just professional. You know things about each of us personally and that’s what helps keep us connected. I’m so thankful you came to Marshall and that you stay at Marshall.”
My brothers and I spent a lot of our youth outside, usually resulting in a game, fight or injury. While I’ve always brushed this dynamic off as that of one growing up with brothers, I realized the support we always had with a mom who doubled as a nurse.
For the Fife family, it was easy to understand why our mom would be honored for this once-in-a-lifetime award. Steinhauser said it best when telling her she was the heartbeat at Marshall because through every cycle of life, our mom was the heartbeat of the Fife family too.
