Penelope Cruz is a high school alumni who recently came back to be a paraprofessional. Cruz enjoys learning about new languages and their different dialects, and watching movies in different languages.

How was your experience transitioning from a high school student to a faculty member?
It’s actually been a pretty easy transition. The teachers here have always been great. It’s why I wanted to come back. I loved the sense of community that we have here at the high school and I wanted to be able to contribute that for new students.

Have you noticed any positive changes in the high school since returning?
I came back very, very shortly after I graduated, so things are similar because of that. But in the time that I was gone we had the pandemic, and students and teachers had to figure out how to do classes online. There were lots of struggles in the past couple of years, which everyone has always been talking about so it’s redundant of me to say, but it’s great to see how resilient everyone has been.

What is some advice from your high school experience?
I’d say my biggest tip for any student is to find, not necessarily a home base, but find that place in the high school that makes you feel at home. For me it was the Scholars program and the STEPS program. It was exciting to be able to not only know that I had friends there but also know that I had mentors there through the teachers and staff that worked for those programs.

What do you do as a Paraprofessional?
I kind of describe it as being an assistant teacher, who helps students that need a little bit more support. I come in and help the teachers too. I was really excited to come back and help other students grow the way that people helped me grow when I was here. This was just a great opportunity that I came across and didn’t want to pass up.

What are some hobbies and interests of yours?
I really like learning about different languages. I have a very extensive list of languages I’d like to learn, so I love to work on that in my free time. I’m really into watching movies in different languages, watching shows in different languages, listening to music in different languages; I find different dialects of the same language very fascinating. I speak Spanish, I’m Dominican, and there’s so many different ways you can say the same thing in Spanish, and I love learning about those intricacies.

What is your favorite movie and why?
Right now a movie that I watch a lot is Pride and Prejudice. Why? I couldn’t tell you. It’s just like a comfort movie. There’s something really fun about movies where you already know what the plot is, so I think that’s why I like it. I’ve seen every version of Pride and Prejudice there is. So, I think it’s fun to see the different takes on the same story.