WIMAUMA, Fla. — Each year, Spectrum News honors Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15., and this year, the theme is “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together.”

And RCMA Wimauma Community Academy Principal Cristina Vega is being celebrated and is doing just that — shaping the future through her work with her students.

While she is new at RCMA Wimauma Community Academy, Vega worked for the Hillsborough County School District for 18 years. She took on her first principal role there in June.

Vega made a picture window so students can get to know her, and she says she already feels like she knows them very well.

“I was raised in the Dominican Republic until I was 7 years old, so when I came back to the United States, I was in bilingual education, and I was in bilingual education for about three years or four years, so I definitely can relate to our students because I am also a product of bilingual education,” said Vega.

RCMA Wimauma Community Academy is a public charter K-8 school. It’s also a bilingual school that serves primarily Hispanic students.

“This is our Spanish class, and this is our English class,” Vega said as she pointed to the two kindergarten classrooms at the school.

Students spend half the day learning in Spanish, and the other half of the day learning in English. The lesson plans in each class are identical. On this day, students were learning about characters in a fable.

“Many of our kindergarteners come in only speaking Spanish because at home, that’s what they speak, but we do have some that actually do not speak Spanish, they come in speaking English, which is a beauty to see that now they also become bilingual, and they’re better able to communicate with their parents because now they also learn their native language,” she said.

With her mother from the Dominican Republic and her father from Honduras, Vega is a first generation American, and can relate to her students. 

“I am a product of bilingual education. I am a very proud Latina, so to be at a school where I’m serving my community, that was definitely something that drew me in,” she said.

It’s also the reason she says her students are so successful. The school currently has a “B” grade. 

“It’s just my heart is with the population that we serve. I believe in the mission. I truly believe in the power of bilingual education for students, so that is really what drew me in to wanting to be here,” she said.

Vega says despite her “Teacher of the Year” awards and other accolades, she’s most proud of earning her GED. It’s proudly displayed in her office next to her bachelor’s and master's degrees, and she’s currently working on her doctorate degree.