Winner: Luz Velazquez

Luz VelazquezEducator

Luz Velazquez of Central Islip has received the 2012 Hispanic Heritage Visual & Performing Arts Award from the Town of Islip based on her work with local students. Velazquez is a Languages Other than English teacher at Central Islip High School and created the school's Hispanic theater arts program, now in its seventh year. She is involved with community cleanup projects, serves as a mentor for high schoolers through Be A Mentor, and is executive board secretary for Teatro Experimental Yerbabruja, a Central Islip organization that uses the arts as a tool for social change.