After 21 years, Mrs. Peralta will be retiring at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Throughout the years she has taught a large range of different classes from Career and Tech Applications to Financial Literacy. She has also played a large role in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club as a co-advisor.
Before pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher, Mrs. Peralta attended Bloomsburg University to earn a bachelor of science in accounting. She then worked as an accountant for 17 years before going back to school to earn her masters in education from DeSales University.
“Teaching is a second career for me. I always wanted to become a teacher, however, I majored in accounting in college,” said Mrs. Peralta. “It was after 17 years that I pursued my passion for wanting to teach business to students. Every day, it’s an honor to be given the opportunity to teach students about the real world they will encounter when they leave high school.”
She shares that her favorite memories from teaching are interacting and spending time with her students everyday. She also believes that having the opportunity and privilege to see her students grow is something that she will never forget.
“I have many favorite memories that revolve around the interactions that I’ve had with students. That’s the best part of teaching,” said Mrs. Peralta. “In addition to these everyday favorite memories, I have a lot of fun memories that revolve around my experiences with FBLA and all of the fun places we’ve visited and what we experienced together. I also made many memories with my co-workers. I will truly miss them!”
Because Mrs. Peralta is a business teacher, she is always looking for ways to compare the classroom to real life. She would like to give advice to students this way and to treat school as their “job.”
Mrs. Peralta has been known to always put her students first, and is regarded by many as such an amazing and kind teacher. Students take so much out of her classes because they take her advice and treat the classroom like the real world.
In her classes there is always something to do or learn, keeping students engaged. She hopes her students use these lessons and apply them when they are living in the real world some day.
Students will miss Mrs. Peralta a lot. She will be remembered at Southern Lehigh by her kindness, her superpower to keep anyone interested in her lessons, her sense of humor, and her ability to light up any room.
She shares what her teaching experiences have taught her over the years she has been here.
“The biggest lessons I’ve learned in life are be patient, be kind, and be understanding; not everyone has lived the same experiences that I have and I have to be open to the understanding that I will accept everyone and not judge anyone.”
Mrs. Peralta gives her final advice to her students before she retires and she hopes that they use this and that they thrive in high school and after graduation.
“When they earn good grades, it’s like earning a ticket to any opportunity out there and they are in the driver’s seat of making decisions about their own life.”