[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 175 (Tuesday, October 5, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING TERESA ANN RODRIGUEZ FOR HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

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                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 5, 2021

  Mr. SOTO. Madam Speaker, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I honor 
Teresa Rodriguez. Teresa is one of the many northern transplants who 
now call Central Florida home. A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican 
descent, she arrived in Orlando in 2012. After two years of working in 
the tourism industry, she now works at the University of Central 
Florida. Her time there has afforded her the opportunity to assist and 
create outreach efforts for Hispanic and other diverse communities in 
Orlando.
  Having received her bachelor's degree in Spanish from Brooklyn 
College at the City University of New York, she put her bilingual 
skills to good use and worked with the City of Orlando's ``Hispanic 
Office for Local Assistance'' to establish and maintain free English 
classes. She served as the point of contact, advocate, and 
administrator for the university-wide Latin American-Caribbean 
scholarship initiative, the Hurricane Maria Disaster Recovery Program, 
and the Venezuela Assistance Program at the English Language Institute. 
She also assisted in running the Hurricane Dorian Disaster Recovery 
Tuition Assistance Program.
  Teresa was a selection committee member and helped process non-
resident alien tuition emergency funds assistance via a hardship waiver 
program. She also helped coordinate efforts between several partners 
and newly arrived Central Florida non-English speaking community 
members to help them acquire Florida state licenses. Teresa remains 
affiliated to and volunteers for the Puerto Rico Research Hub at UCF.
  For this and more, we honor Teresa Rodriguez.

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