Julissa Hernandez: President's Educator Fellowship

Master of Arts in Teaching Single Subject Candidate Julissa Hernandez has received the 2017-2018 President's Educator Fellowship, presented by Sue Vaughn on November 7, 2017.

About Julissa Hernandez

​Julissa Hernandez was born in Santa Ana, CA and raised in Westminster, CA. As a child of immigrants from Mexico, Julissa always saw how much her father, the sole supporter of her family, struggled to financially support her family of seven. Not being able to even finish primary school, both of her parents always encouraged her and her sisters to further their education. Besides her parent’s encouragement to continue her education, Julissa grew up in a low-income neighborhood. Growing up in a high violence and crime filled neighborhood, Julissa also saw how many students around her age became pregnant or dropped out of high school. Being lucky enough to have great teachers encouraging her and her classmates, Julissa was able to see the differences between the quality of education she received in her AP classes versus the quality of education students in ‘regular’ classes received when she would tutor them. Because of these inequitable contrasts, Julissa went into the University of California, Santa Barbara and majored in history and minored in education in hopes of pursuing a teaching career route as a way to help create more equitable teaching in Title I schools and low-income neighborhoods. 

As a future educator, Julissa hopes to help students receive the best form of education especially in inner cities and low-income cities. Having experienced and observed inequities throughout her schooling experience, Julissa also hopes to inspire her students to continue furthering their education by sharing her own experiences. Although a lot of students usually do not tend to like history, Julissa hopes to change student opinions by creating an accepting, entertaining, and inclusive environment where both students and herself can learn from each other and ultimately learn some history together.