Candidate for
Board Member; South Bay Irrigation District; Division 4

Terry is a Professor Emeritus of Microbiology, Environmental Biology, Human Heredity and non-majors Biology of the School of Math, Science, and Engineering at Southwestern College. While she was at the college, she encouraged her students to get involved with their community and provided for them to do Service Learning throughout the San Diego/Tijuana Region. A number of students over the years served at the Bonita Museum and also the CV Nature Center, Tijuana Estuary, Baja California, Natural History Museum, and in Sister Cities and Schools International projects, City of Chula Vista, Meals on Wheels, Otay Valley Regional Park tree planting and clean-up programs, Imperial Beach Community Clinic programs, and numerous humanitarian and other community service projects. She voluntarily worked with sixth grade teachers and students with the MARSH program for the Tijuana Estuary in Imperial Beach. Also, she was on the advisory committee for the Museum of Man's Footprints in Time exhibit which involved lessons ranging from evolution to biotechnology for visitors of all ages and background. Until recently she had served on the Advisory Committee for the Cuyamaca College SD WaterWorks technical education employment, internships, curriculum in the water industry. She has based her life on the importance of working together for the benefit of society.

Currently, Terry is a Director of the Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority (SWA) and past chairperson of SWA Operations Committee. After retiring from college, she fulfilled her goal to represent the community by serving on the water boards by winning the election to Division 4 of the South Bay Irrigation District (SBID). She ran for this office because she realized the importance of a healthy, reliable, and affordable water supply for our region and the community's quality of life and economic and environmental health. She is dedicated to the important goal for a safe and sustainable water, energy, and educational and economic opportunity for our community, region, and nation.

Recently, Terry was re-elected President of the South Bay Irrigation District. She also represented the Sweetwater Authority as delegate to the Association of California Water Agencies and serves on the statewide ACWA Water Quality Committee. She proudly received the California Special Districts Association Foundation Leadership Recognition Certification from the CSDA. She is also a member of the CV Chamber of Commerce and also Bonita Business and Professional Association. She participates in many community outreach events, such as the Chula Vista TAVA Lemon Festival, the Cinco de Mayo Festival, the Bonita Fest, COPAO Filipino American Festival and National City Automobile Fiesta and local Sister Cities programs. Terry served as a docent at the Bonita Museum and Historical Center since her retirement from Southwestern College. She is a member of Crossroads II a Co-founder of the Southwest Civic Association and served on its park and historic preservation subcommittee.

Terry just completed two terms on the International Boundary and Water Commission Citizens Forum Board for San Diego-Tijuana Region. She served two terms on the SD County Solid Waste Hearing Panel. In addition she was a part of a large group of economists, educators, and civic associations planning for our community in the new millennium as a member of Chula Vista General Plan Update Steering Committee representing the Environment, Open Space, Sustainable Development Vision 2020 Subcommittee. In 2005 was acknowledged as Chula Vista Environmentalist of the Year for this and educational and service related to ecological sustainability and our gifts of nature. For example, Terry served over 9 years as member or chair of the Resource Conservation Commission and GPU Alternate on the Port of San Diego /Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan Advisory Committee. Recently, the City of Chula Vista asked her to participate in the Environmental focused leg of the Energy Generators Working Group.

Over the years, bringing people together has given her great JOY and satisfaction. She has mainly expressed this through sister city involvement and passion about the importance of people-to-people understanding to world peace, family, and society. She has been involved with this through Sister Cities programs and also, in the past, through International Lionism. She had served two plus terms on the Chula Vista International Friendship Commission. And facilitated three community delegations and numerous Youth Exchanges and International Understanding Teacher Programs to Odawara City, Japan. In addition, she was involved with several Kellogg Grant project exchanges and community exchanges to Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. These programs were models of sociological benefit and Desarollo Integral Familiar and D.I.A. Albergue Infantil to acknowledge her and the Friends of Irapuato sister city programs for their sociological, cultural, economic, and humanitarian benefits and success. She was a charter member of the Chula Vista Cebu Sister Cities Association. She was on the board of the San Diego Leon Sister Cities Society. She was on the National Board of the U.S. Mexico Sister Cities Assoc. and National Co-Chair for their highly successful national convention at the San Diego U.S. Grant Hotel. Terry was recognized as the Sister Cities International 50th Anniversary Circle of Distinguished Volunteers in Washington, D.C.
Terry gathered a core group of community members in her home and started the groups called the "Friends of Irapuato" and later the "Friends of Odawara." She has served as President of the Friends of Odawara group aka CV Odawara Sister Cities Association for more than 20 years. She is a life member of the San Diego Yokohama S.C.A., Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana, Japanese American Historical Society of SD, Congress of History. She is also a life member of the National Science Teachers Association, where she served on the International Committee and chaired International Lecture Exchange with Great Britain. Terry has been listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World for years (currently and for several decades).

In the past, she had been highly involved with Lionism. She served as President of Southwest San Diego County Lions, was 4-L6 Zone Chair and also 4-L6 International Director, two time Lion of the Year in years 2000 and also 2002, and named the Melvin Jones Fellow for Humanitarian deeds, In addition, Terry was top award winner for Southwest Lions Bulletin for District 4-L6 and also was co-editor of the district's publication the Roaring Times plus carried out numerous projects over the years.

Terry was born and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which is in Wyoming Valley, the heart of Northeastern Pennsylvania, an anthracite coal town with a diversity of people and a family values, football playing, hard working people. She was valedictorian of St. Ann `s Academy and graduated from College Misericordia. Like so many in that area, she earned her way through college in odd jobs, such as waitressing in Atlantic City and retail clothes salesgirl plus scholarships. She taught high school, and was Coordinator of the Curriculum and Science Supervisor for ten science teachers from 7-12 grades at Meyers High School.

Having participated in National Science Foundation programs at Humboldt State in Arcata and Penn State university, Terry decided to take a sabbatical and to earn her first Masters in Biology. She applied to the American Univ. of Beirut (A.U.B.) and was National Science Foundation Teaching Fellow. Her undergraduate students were a mixture of more than 50 different nationalities. Her Master of Science in biology degree thesis research was carried out in the A.U.B. Biochemistry Department of the Medical School and dealt with zinc and protein deficiency effects on certain albino rats.

When Terry returned to Pennsylvania from A.U.B., she was in charge of revamping the programs for all the gifted and talented track and advanced science class programs in the Wilkes-Barre School District. Although she appreciated her colleagues, friends, and family in Pennsylvania, she yearned to fulfill her dream to live in California. She got a Research Associate position at the U.C. Medical Center in San Francisco and became very involved in research at the Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology which mainly focused on separation science, immunology, and Toxoplasma gondii. Also, she got involved with volunteer activities, for example, she helped to start a Franciscan coffee house in the tenderloin called "The Poverello."

Later, Terry was recruited by the American Colleges of Istanbul to teach Microbiology and Biology to very bright Turkish boys at Robert College of Istanbul. she started the American Colleges of Istanbul Science Week project and had a wonderful three years with the Turkish faculty that taught the cultural arts subjects and the foreign faculty that taught the science and math subjects. She adored living in Istanbul and even joined the Istanbul Players and also a group of friends that rented a fishing boat for weekend excursions to the islands. Loved bringing people of different nations and background together with my many diverse friends from Turkey to have parties or dinners or other social event. Was called the "Pearl Mesta of Istanbul" as my friendly gatherings were so popular and enjoyable.

She spent a year teaching In Luxembourg while applying for graduate school in the U.S.A. and getting to know Europe better before her USA return. Fortunately, Terry was offered a U.S. Public Health Service Fellowship to the University of So. Calif. Where she then earned her M.S. in Microbiology. She then taught chemistry and biology at the Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead where she also set up a new Biology Lab for the School. Finally, her goal to live and teach in San Diego near the border to Mexico was realized! Terry loves the U.S.-Mexico border region and its great richness and diversity of peoples, cultural arts, ecosystems, history, technology, and gifts of nature. She was fortunate since she was awarded a sabbatical leave replacement contract with the San Diego Mesa College Biology Department and later with San Diego State, and finally with SD City College. In between, she was also Adjunct Faculty member and Advisory Board for Chapman College/University and taught at the Naval Station, Naval Training Center and Miramar Air Station, as well as at all local medical centers and hospitals to Health Professional going for their MS or BS in Health Science or Administration.

Finally, Obtained a contract at Southwestern College where she taught for 25 years, served as Academic Senate Chairperson, Delegate to the State Academic Senate and member of its executive committee, Faculty Association for California Community Colleges (F.A.C.C.C.) Policy Committee, Coordinator of several Great Teaching Seminars, member of the VECINOS Team that developed the Baja Studies Certificate Program which included her basic EcoMundo Environmental Biology course, and co-founder of PROJECT CREATE, Cultural Research Educational and Trade Exchange which established a sister school partnership with the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade which was the springboard for the Pacific Rim international trade classes and program at Southwestern College.

Terry also was a San Diego High-Tech Industry Fellow and founded the Southern California Biotechnology Education Consortium. The SoCAL BEC then joined northern California to form the Calif. Community Colleges Economic Development Biological Technologies Initiative and now is expressed as BIOTECH centers and biotech programs throughout California.

Terry has Rheumatoid Arthritis and is a Cancer survivor and believes very strongly in the power of positive thinking, optimism, and faith, friendship, and living and working together as one in nature and the creative expressions of music, art, literature and technological innovation. She has always believed in the strong connections between environmental, economic, and ethos sustainability to the quality of life expressions of joy, beauty and serenity in the spirit of hope, faith, and love.

Thank you ....

PS During recent five years, I had the honor of being a Founding Board Member of the Chula Vista Charitable Foundation, a part of Endow Chula Vista program and San Diego Foundation.