THE ART OF TEACHING:
CRISTINA CORREA
AP ART TEACHER • IDEA SAN JUAN
It is often said that teaching is part art and part science, and Cristina Correa has dedicated the last 15 years of her career to perfecting her craft while inspiring a new generation of students to challenge conventions and become innovators. EDUCATION HAS ALWAYS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN HER JOURNEY, even before realizing her calling. The Weslaco native was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley in a family that both valued and expected a college education. "My paternal grandparents both went to college. After serving in World War II, my grandfather came back and graduated from San Perlita High School in Willacy County. After graduation, my great-grandpa told him he had a choice: stay and work on the ranch like his family had been doing for generations or use his G.I. bill to go to college," says Correa. "So, he got on the train, went to college and become one of the first Hispanic men to graduate from A&M College of Texas (now Texas A&M University), where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. My grandmother already had her own career at the Cameron County courthouse by the time she and my grandpa met and married. She was a model of self-sufficiency and independence for my sisters and me." 26
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IMPACT SPRING 2021
