Growing up in Houston, Tiffani Cortez fell in love with math and art while watching her father work in construction. But when it came time to plan for college, her parents had certain expectations for her future.
Tiffani Cortez: “My pathway, it’s very crooked compared to the straight forward, four-year pathway that a lot of people do with college and everything. My parents kind of, you know, guided me towards you want to be a doctor, you want to be a lawyer.”
In 1998, Cortez moved to Waco to study philosophy and pre-law at Baylor University, but she quickly realized she wasn’t pursuing her passion. Cortez switched majors to study interior design, but it still wasn’t the right fit.
Tiffani Cortez: “I started looking around for other options after that and found TSTC, which I had heard about, but it was kind of advertised to me as kind of a more of a guy school, a trade school. It's more trades. Guys are going to be, you know, the majority there. And it was true.”
During her time at TSTC studying architectural design, Cortez says she was often the only female in her classes.
Tiffani Cortez: “But I did excel in them, I was usually the top in my classes.”
After accepting a job with Central Texas Ironworks, Cortez was able to get her bachelor's degree in engineering technology in just one year.
Tiffani Cortez: “Once I finished that, I started thinking about what I wanted to do and being that I was always the only girl in my classes at TSTC and then in the engineering technology degree, I was usually the only girl and at Central Texas Ironworks, I was the only girl. I started to think about, like, why that was and everything. And I started looking into teaching and decided that I kind of wanted to make that my passion and try to get more females interested in that area of architecture, engineering, and see if I could get more females introduced to them because of my background, I wasn't really introduced to it. I kind of had to do research and find out about everything. So that's kind of what I made my pathway to be.”
Now, Cortez teaches Engineering and Digital arts at Harmony School of Innovation Waco. She also serves as the Career and Technical Education department head and the robotics program director. Every day, Cortez is able to empower high school girls to pursue STEM, all while pursuing her doctorate at Texas A&M with a focus on increasing female interest in engineering.
Tiffani Cortez: “When I first started teaching, I noticed that a lot of the girls I worked with were very self-conscious about working with tools, about working with certain software. They thought they would mess up. They didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of others. And then when I see them get more confident about it and kind of taking over and taking charge, I love the empowering feeling that they're getting and helping facilitate that.”
Cortez was recently named a 2024 Inspire the Future: FIRST Recognition Program Honoree. FIRST is a global nonprofit that prepares young people for the future of STEM through youth robotics programs.
But this isn’t the first time Cortez has been awarded for her dedication to STEM education. She’s received numerous awards including Teacher of the Year in 2020, the H-E-B Excellence in Education Award in 2018 and STEM Educator of the Year in 2015.
She says her teaching philosophy begins with connecting with her students.
Tiffani Cortez: “One of the most important things I believe is building a relationship with the kids, making sure that, you know, they know that you're real and giving them that comfort where they can be real with you and trust you and know that you're there for them.”
Cortez hopes that the Waco community will show more support towards students in STEM, especially during robotic competitions.
Tiffani Cortez: “For the past three years we have been having a competition at the Extraco rodeo arena and there's a good group that comes and views it, but it's not a lot of Waco people and I'd love to see that more. I'd love to see more support. We'd love to see the bleachers filled more with Waco people and bring the kids out so that they can see what's going on.”
Cortez encourages any women interested in STEM to give it a try.
Tiffani Cortez: “One of the biggest catalysts that they say helps females feel more comfortable in those areas are seeing women that look like them already being successful. So if there are mentors, if there are females out there in the STEM area, make yourself known and make yourself visible. And any females out there, like if you think you're kind of curious about it, just try it."
