Educator Rosas is Recipient of 2014 Outstanding Alumna Award
Reyna Rosas, 2014 Outstanding Alumna
Reyna Rosas ended up at Cypress College because that’s what she told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge was her intention. Her statement — and, the way Rosas tells the story, it was more declaration than promise — became reality thanks to the intervention of a stranger, who paid Rosas’ tuition. In 1980, Rosas took a job working overnight in a fast food restaurant as employment and a safe haven for shelter, and showered in the campus locker room before morning classes. To supplement her income and help pay for classes, she also worked on campus.
That was her humble introduction to higher education.
Rosas continued her education since earning her associate’s degree here at Cypress College in 1982. Four years later, she earned her bachelor of arts in Physical Education and Kinesiology at California State University, Long Beach. In 1998, she earned her master of arts in the same field, with an emphasis on Sports Management. She also earned a single-subject teaching credential in physical education from the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Today, Rosas is a decorated middle-school teacher with over 20 years of experience as a mentor, and coach of multiple sports for boys and girls teams at Jessie Elwin Nelson Academy, in Signal Hill. She is a four-term union board of director for the Teachers Association of Long Beach. She has also coached community college basketball and worked as an adjunct faculty member at Southern California community colleges, including Cypress College.
She has one son, Aiden, who is 7.