Theresa Cruz
Theresa Cruz is the Hispanic Family Engagement Coordinator for Learning Grove. Theresa was born and raised in NYC and after high school moved to Puerto Rico where she lived for 25 years. She obtained a BA in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Elementary English and Special Education from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. She started teaching elementary school but found her niche when she was asked to teach a bilingual preschool class where she worked. Inspired by wanting to provide developmentally appropriate environments and activities to young children, she opened a childcare center in PR in 2007. There she designed and taught a bilingual curriculum to children ages 2-5 until she moved to NKY in 2013. Before coming to Learning Grove, she was director of a childcare center for 2 years and held various roles at 4C for Children. These roles included: Training Coach, Strengthening Families Coach and Family Engagement Specialist. She is currently working with EL families in NKY to help strengthen family and school partnerships while providing essential skills to families that will encourage them to advocate for their child and partner with schools to ensure their child’s success.
Theresa enjoys training and teaching adult learners. She provided conversational English to adults in PR and worked as an ESL instructor for Gateway Community College for 1 ½ years. She is an Ohio and KY credentialed trainer and is certified as a Spanish interpreter with the state of KY.
Her favorite things are dancing salsa, Zumba, ice cream and cupcakes.