Roditha Terado: Engineer, teacher, singer

Roditha shown here with CMS Superintendent Ann Blakeney Clark

One of the teacher awardees to be honored at an appreciation ceremony for teachers at the Asian Library on May 20 is Roditha Lourdes Fuentes Terado of Harding University High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Harding University High School specializes in Math, Science and Technology. Most of Terado's friends here in Charlotte also described her as a great singer who would never refuse a request to sing. 

Terado has 20 years of teaching experience, a decade of which was spent at the Philippine Science High school and Eastern Visayas State University.

She also spent two years as a teacher at Cambridge International School in the Philippines and an eight year teaching stint here in the US—five years at Fairfield Central High School at South Carolina and three years at Harding High School. 

The petite Terado, a native of Tacloban, Leyte province attended school at Divine Word University and Eastern Visayas State University. 

She holds a Civil Engineering degree and earned her Civil Engineering Masters degree as well as a masters degree in Instruction Supervision.

Terado, who loves teaching, said teaching in the US is both challenging and awesome. “Because you deal with multi-diverse students, a multicultural community and a different educational system,” she said.

She credits her teaching stint in the US for making her a better person and expanding her perspective in life. To be a good teacher, Terado said one must be strong, tough and consistent with one's rules and procedures.

She said she is trying to be the best version of herself. Terado said her passion for problem solving enhanced her passion for imparting her knowledge to the students.

“That way I can make a difference and be a catalyst of change because I believe that I am teaching the country's next generation of engineers, scientists, doctors and teachers,” she said.

When not teaching, Terado finds work as a civil engineer and she has a deep interest in structural engineering. A decade from now, Tirado said she wants to go home to the Philippines and be with her family and serve her community.

And she wants to travel the world and never stop educating kids. Terado along with the other teacher awardees will be honored by the Filipino-American Community of the Carolinas at the Asian Library on May 20./Susan Palmes-Dennis