Mrs. Carissa Velasquez is a member of the Social Science department at Cypress High School who teaches 10th grade World History and 11th/12th Ethnic Studies. Ironically, Velasquez didn’t care that much for history in high school. But, when she went to college, she took some classes and met some professors who sparked her interest by demonstrating that history wasn’t just a bunch of facts and dates. They also showed her that history actually had meaning behind it, and that she could do her best to try to bring history to life for her future students. It all led to Velasquez majoring in History. 

Velasquez enjoyed college, though she did have to work multiple jobs to try and get through. It was tough at times with her schedules, classes, and work life. But, she said that if she could go back, she would have taken the time to stay on campus and enjoy the campus life, because that is the fun part of college. Velasquez graduated from Loara High School. From there she attended Fullerton College for two years and got her Associate’s degree in History. Then she went to Cal State Fullerton, graduated with her Bachelor’s degree, teaching credentials, and Master’s in secondary education. 

Velasquez has been teaching at the district for about sixteen years. Before coming to Cypress High School, Velasquez taught at Anaheim High School for 13 years.  Velasquez loves the Cypress campus and her colleagues in Social Studies. She is definitely excited to work with her current “fantastic” Cypress students and values their “in-depth conversations,” she added. 

Velasquez loves to be here at Cypress High School and can’t wait to see what the upcoming years will bring with Cypress and its students.