Teacher/Vex IQ Coach

My name is Patricia Cortez. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and am a proud product of Dallas ISD. After my journey through the Dallas ISD school system as a student, I attended The University of Texas at Arlington and received my Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Bilingual Education Certification in Early Childhood through 6th grade. After teaching for a couple of years I decided I wanted to continue my education and attended Texas Tech University where I received my Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction and a Graduate Certificate in Personalized Learning Methods. I have been an elementary math and science teacher for the past 10 years and currently serve as a middle school social studies teacher. I became a robotics coach about six years ago when a colleague asked me if we wanted to try this new initiative our district was encouraging. I absolutely fell in love with the VEX ecosystem! Three years ago, I had two little girls ask me to begin our own team with all girls, one where girls wouldn't be afraid to take lead roles and try new things and that is where the journey of my all girls team, the LadyBots, began. After seeing what the GirlPowered initiative did for us, we were set to spread the word that girls do indeed have a place in STEM.