Grisell Santiago (FL)

Thank you for the nomination. I have been teaching at P. K. Yonge since 2005. Since day one I have been pushing my students to excel and not only teaching them about the Spanish language and culture but also always encouraging them to participate in other activities that can help them expand their knowledge in other areas. I am always looking for new ideas to expand my curriculum and help my students learn about Hispanic literature, art, history and culture. I am constantly seeking external funding to help support academic activities. I am in charge of the PK Yonge Global Scholar program, the UNICEF and Hispanic Honor Society Club, Poetry Out Loud, and Euro Challenge, among others. I have been the World Language department head for a decade. I have led many community service projects with my classroom students and clubs. I currently serve and have served in different leadership roles in different World Languages associations and I had and are currently collaborating with the University of Florida in different projects related to culture and the Spanish language. This year I started a new project teaching Spanish after school with the help of past and present students from my Spanish classes that are mentoring and teaching Spanish to elementary school students. The program has been a success and we have expanded the program to the next school year and beyond that. Thanks to the support of the parents and the school administration the program has been approved to continue beyond the current school year. This would help us to have exploratory Spanish in Elementary school and start Spanish 1 and 2 in Middle school.