PARLIER, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Teresa Peña has been teaching and inspiring students at Brletic Elementary in Parlier for more than 30 years. Recently, the first-grade teacher was diagnosed with cancer.
Fabiola Rodriguez says Peña or Mrs. Peña, as she is known, is a true inspiration within the district.
“So she has been one of the teachers that everybody looks up to,” said Rodriguez. “She is the teacher that will give her one. Like I could tell you, she will give anything off her back to make sure that her students have what they need.”
Teresa’s son, Jose Peña, is also a teacher at Brletic Elementary.
“I wouldn’t have been able to survive so to say as a teacher just because it’s a lot more rigorous than people imagine it to be,” he said. “She was just so helpful in every facet of the job and it’s just wonderful being able to eat lunch with my mom every day.”
He says his mom’s cancer diagnosis is recent.
“Over the summer they found a mass went and did a biopsy and came back with cancer,” he said.