Teacher Shout Out: Gina Garcia

French teacher Gina Garcia has worked at Akins since 2006 and has been involved as a sponsor for the Latinos Unidos organization for many years.

She said she didn’t initially plan to become a teacher when she studied French in college. All she knew was that she wanted to travel and help people.

“And I figured out that I was really a teacher at heart,” she said. “I’d always been a teacher. So then I went back to college, I went back to school to get my teaching credentials in Spanish and French.”

Garcia said working with young people is what keeps her motivated to teach.

“I have fun with my students. I try to enjoy my life,” she said. “I try to I have made it so that my job fits me and that I like coming here and I genuinely enjoy teenagers. Most of my friends don’t understand that. I would not have stayed so long if I didn’t thoroughly enjoy my job and again, some days are more challenging than others. But as a whole this has been the ride of a lifetime.”

Garcia said she feels honored and privileged to teach Akins students.

“I have had the privilege and the honor to have worked with some of the best kids I’ve ever met in my in my career,” she said. “Kids who are smart; kids who are funny; kids who are talented.”

Garcia said that although she could retire next year, she’s not ready to do that quite yet.

“I still have plenty of energy. I still am hoping that once this pandemic is over, I can get back to doing my clubs and traveling with the kids the way we used to before,” she said. “So I’m going to wait it out. I don’t want to end my career during a pandemic. I want to wait until everything is over. And I want to end my career on a high note.”

Student Shout Out: Maria Contreras

Senior Maria Contreras is a high-achieving student that is involved with many extracurriculars and organizations at Akins.

Contreras is part of the Akins varsity classical guitar.

“My freshman year, I started by joining the varsity classical guitar ensemble. I’ve been playing guitar since I was eight. So it just felt natural,” she said.

She is also part of the Code 2 College program, which trains students in computer coding to help them in technology careers.

In addition to varsity guitar and Code 2 College, she is the founder and president of the American Red Cross club at Akins. Conteras started the club during her junior year.

“I realized that a lot of schools like LASA and Westlake have an American Red Cross. So I thought that it would be a great idea to bring that to Akins, and give students the opportunity to get involved with their community, even with COVID,” she said.

Contreras is the Co-President of the Akins Peer Tutoring Initiative, which is an organization where students can both get help with their coursework and gain service hours by peer tutoring.

She said that meeting new people was what motivated her to become very involved with extracurriculars.

“When I came to the United States, I didn’t know a lot of people, I was brand new, and my English wasn’t very good. So I thought that a way for me to meet new people, and at the same time, help out and get involved, and completely understand everything was for me to get involved in all these extracurricular activities. And they actually worked, I met and made a lot of friends through all of the clubs and projects I’ve been a part of, and I got the chance to become a better person, a better leader,” Conteras said.

All while balancing academics and extracurriculars during the school year, Contreras works part-time at Domino’s Pizza.

Contreras was recently accepted to Rice University, where she plans to double major in biomedical engineering and computer science, possibly pursuing the pre-med track.