Tina Alejo

Tina (Cristina Alejo) is a parent, community advocate and educator for over 20 years whose children attended Bessie Carmichael School/Filipino Education Center in San Francisco’s South of Market area. She is a co-founder of Galing Bata (the well-rounded child), a Filipino bilingual-bicultural after school and summer program based at the Bessie Carmichael School/Filipino Education Center Pre-K to 8. She served as program director and member of its collective leadership team from 2001-2011.  

A staunch advocate of Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology) and bilingual education, she collaborated with parent, school and community advocates in preserving the site of the Filipino Education Center in San Francisco,  leading to the link-up with Bessie Carmichael School  and its expansion to 8th grade in order to strengthen and expand the school’s flagship Filipino language pathway program.

Currently, she is a Pre-Kindergarten Lead teacher at Bessie Carmichael School/Filipino Education Center, helping children build strong emergent literacy skills and a solid social-emotional foundation in learning through culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and earned her teaching credential in elementary education from San Francisco State University.

(Words by Tina)