Isabel Martinez-Miranda
Alice McCullough
Teresa Mercado-Cota
José Montaño
Luz Peralta-Méndez
Isabel Martinez-Miranda
Isabel was born and raised in Orange County and has a true passion for Mexican folklore and her culture. She has been involved with Relámpago since 1994, when her niece, Isabel Martinez, began to dance at age 5. Now, 11 years later, she is still dancing! Isabel’s daughter, Valeria Miranda, is 5 years old and began dancing at age 4. Valeria not only loves to dance folklórico, but she also loves everything else that the group gives her: discipline, leadership and the opportunity to do something that most children do at home: Be a Star!! These are just a few reasons why the children love RDC and why Isabel is such a strong supporter of this group. She has her own Real Estate and Mortgage business, Banc One, which she co-owns with her husband Armando Miranda. Their business is located in Santa Ana and for the past 8 years they have focused on assisting low-income Hispanic families with home ownership.
Alice McCullough
Alice has a MS in Public Administration from CSUF, a BS in Math from Drury College in Springfield, MO and a Missouri Lifetime Secondary Teaching Credential. She has lived in the City of Orange for 43 years. She is active in several non-profit groups. She has been on the Board of Relámpago del Cielo since 1985 and is excited about the group’s continuing growth. Alice taught high school in Missouri, moved to California, was a stay-at-home mom and became the Assistant Administrative Officer for one of USC’s research centers. She simultaneously completed her Masters in Public Administration and worked part-time for Orange County public agencies for two years. Then, in 1974, she became the Executive Director for Coast Regional Training Center. The City of Santa Ana then hired her as their Community Development Coordinator to write grants and oversee implementation of their grant funded projects. During the ten years she worked for them, she netted the City more than $52 million from the grants she wrote. Alice became an independent consultant in 1985 and has worked with many cities, school districts and non-profit organizations. Alice has given management skills seminars and facilitated and trained grant writing teams in cities and school districts. Alice now works only part time so she can spend more time with her "three wonderful grandchildren" and assist community groups.
Teresa Mercado-Cota is the Director of Community Relations and External Affairs for the Rancho Santiago Community College District (RSCCD). Her responsibilities include developing strategies, programs and events to educate the community in general and the underserved populations in particular, of instructional programs and student services. She also collaborates with college personnel and community members to create effective media and marketing avenues and materials that reach out to multicultural and multilingual communities. One of her primary duties is to cultivate favorable relations between the college district and business, civic, educational, community based organizations and residents. Mercado-Cota joined RSCCD in 1989. She has worked in both the Santiago Canyon College and Santa Ana College service areas. She has served as a Student Service Specialist, High School and Community Outreach Specialist, Coordinator of Community Relations and Director of Community Relations. “I believe we need to work together to provide educational access and opportunities for all community members,” Mercado-Cota said. “For some students, traditional programs are effective, but for others we need to continue to develop creative, non-traditional methods to recruit, retain and transfer them. Both the community and the college benefit from our informed and united efforts.” Mercado-Cota has served on several boards, including Chapman University Advisory Council, KinderCaminata, Inc., Orange County Registrar of Voters, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Orange County, Santa Ana Community Leadership Institute, Rueben Martinez Literacy, Enrichment Achievement Plus (LEAP), Hispanic Chamber of O.C. Education Committee, Relámpago del Cielo Grupo Folklórico, and is the current president of the National Hispanic Business Women Association (NHBWA). She is a member of numerous organizations, including MANA of Orange County, Los Amigos of Orange County, Phi Kapa Phi, PUENTE, and Student Service Learning Program. Also, Mercado-Cota has received numerous leadership recognitions such as the RSCCD Board of Trustees President’s Award, Leadership Santa Ana, KinderCaminata Corazón Award, Orange County Forum—Women in Leadership, LULAC, PEW Leadership Program, Orange County United Way Hispanic Influentials Award, NAWBO Participating Organization Award, and California Assembly Legislature Resolution. Mercado-Cota graduated from Dana Hills High School at seventeen and went to work to help support her family. She is the first person in her family to attend college. As a student, she assisted with the development of the EOPS program. She graduated in 1978 with an A.A. in Liberal Arts. She was selected to participate in the first EOPS Legislative Internship Program in Sacramento. She worked with the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) while a student at CSU, Sacramento. She later became the Director of the Legislative Internship Program and worked to provide hundreds of students with the opportunity to intern in legislative and governmental offices. She also worked with the Chancellor’s Office to introduce and pass legislation that allowed the expansion of the internship model to other sites in California. She went on to earn dual B.A degrees in Communications and Sociology from CSU, Sacramento. She graduated with her M.S. in Education/Counseling at CSU, Long Beach in 1998. Mercado-Cota enjoys working for RSCCD and welcomes opportunities to expand educational efforts in the community. She is married to her best friend, Victor Cota. They have three wonderful sons, Victor, Jr., 23, Gabriel, 21 and David, 13.
Mr. José Montaño is currently the Vice Principal at the Orange County Educational Arts Academy (OCEAA) in Santa Ana. He has been in education for over 12 years starting as a classroom teacher at James Lick Middle School in San Francisco where he honed his skills as an educator participating in the Language Academy’s Spanish Immersion Program, presented at the Computer Using Educators (CUE) Conference as well the California Association for Bilingual Educators (CABE) Conference. Mr. Montaño coached the Boy’s Basketball team to a city championship in 2002 as well as holding other leadership roles at James Lick Middle School.
Upon his return home to Santa Ana in 2003 he taught at El Sol Science and Arts Academy as well as holding a position at California State University Long Beach as a Student Teacher Supervisor. His most recent experience at OCEAA began as a founding board member as well as a founding teacher in the Middle School program. He served as the Technology Coordinator in 2005 and Interim Principal to conclude the 2007 school year.
He is a local graduate of Saddleback High School and Santa Ana College. Mr. Montaño holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of San Francisco, a Masters degree in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University, and is currently working on a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from Loyola Marymount University. He has been the recipient of the Rancho Santiago College Hammond Award in 1993, profiled in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 2002, and a member of Phi Delta Kappa Professional Education Honor Society.
Mr. Montaño is deeply committed to nurturing an educational family environment that fosters a successful spirit of collaboration, as well as inspiring creativity for the arts and technology. He is also deeply committed to issues of social justice and how they affect his community and the educational environment for which he is an integral part.
Luz Peralta Mendez is currently the Principal of Mission Middle School in the Jurupa Unified School District, Riverside. She has been in education for over 30 years starting as a classroom teacher at Wilson Elementary School in Santa Ana Unified School District. She worked in the Jurupa Unified School District for over 20 years as an elementary school teacher, high school art teacher, District Resource Teacher, Coordinator of Bilingual Education and ten years as Principal of Ina Arbuckle Elementary School. One of her most memorable accomplishments was being named Jurupa Unified School District Principal of the Year in 2004.
Luz attended Orange Coast College where she received her Associate of Arts Degree in Fine Arts. Luz is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts and in Spanish. In addition, she studied abroad for a year at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City. She returned to do her graduate work at University of California, Irvine and earned her Multiple and Single subject Teaching Credentials and her Master Degree in Education. She attended Azusa Pacific University and earned her Administrative Credential.
As an artist, Luz had the opportunity to work with other artists and has painted several murals. One of her artistic accomplishments was painting the mural, ”Birth of La Raza” that she designed and painted with fellow artists from Santa Ana. The mural is still displayed at “Chicano Park” in San Diego, California.
Luz, a founding member, started dancing with Relámpago Del Cielo in 1975. During her ten years dancing with RDC, Luz also used her artistic talent to illustrate and design concert programs and flyers. She traveled extensively throughout Mexico to study dance. She researched and purchased authentic regional dresses for RDC. She studied at the Mizoc Dance Institute in Mexico City, participated in the ANGF dance conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico and had the opportunity to perform throughout the United States. Due to her love and commitment to the organization, Luz joined RDC Board of Directors in 2006.
