Carmen Diaz-Perez
Carmen Diaz-Perez
Carmen has always been related to education in one way or another. She studied at the Ana G. Mendez University System in Puerto Rico and has her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood & Primary Education. Professional certifications: Supplementary Bilingual Education -Spanish EC-6, Core Subjects EC-6, and Theology.
Carmen began teaching in all departments and ages at Church motivating her to acquire a Theology certification. After this, she taught at the Biblical Institute El Tabor and at Colegio Pentecostal Rayos de Esperanza for about 6 years. At the same time, she finished her bachelor’s degree. Carmen began working at Carvin School Inc., a bilingual school for 12 years. At Carvin School, she had the opportunity to start with kindergarteners and later teach grades up to 4th-grade mathematics to regular and GT groups. She started a pilot program with the GT group in Advanced Education. In the advanced program, students were allowed to develop in their own steps, giving them the tools to work independently or with the assistance of their classmates or teacher, thus completing the grade-level curriculum and beginning the next grade curriculum. In this way, the kids can begin with College credits upon arrival at high school. When she moved to the United States, she began as a volunteer at Waco ISD in 2014, at Hillcrest Elementary School. She then worked as a substitute in several schools and as a teachers aide at West Avenue until she acquired a bilingual teacher certification from the state of Texas. She started as a Pre-K teacher at Crestview Elementary and later as a Pre-K and Kinder teacher at West Avenue Elementary. She then went on to her current position as Bilingual Coordinator in the Bilingual Department.
“My philosophy is to be useful for each person (for students and adults), trying to facilitate whatever possible skills necessary for daily living. Letting them know that education is continuous, it never ends. Education is fun, you have to enjoy learning time and see how to apply it to our life. Education is a process of summing up our lives and the most beautiful thing is, what you add to your life, cannot be subtracted. By allowing ourselves to learn, we have the opportunity to expand our knowledge and our horizons. This helps us in a way, to improve our thoughts and look at life in a positive and different way. Knowledge is power. I would like us to dare to overcome challenges, knowing there are no ages, or limits to be able to reach our goals, all this to be able to bless others. Not only am I responsible for modeling and facilitating academic knowledge, but also to give tools to be responsible, useful, respectful people so, that we solve problems not only thinking about our own well-being but that of others.”
Carmen has two kids. Her son’s name is Miguel and her daughter’s name is Ruth. The last member of the family is a granddaughter, Evelyn. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, planning church activities, being with her kids, and watching Korean movies.