Embed This Article Rookie Teacher of the Year: Minnie Perez photo by Jonathan Reyes Drama teacher Ms. Minette Perez is Varela’s Rookie Teacher of the Year. She has directed three plays at this school. [ArticleMedia] Friday, May 29, 2009 By Liliana Mora/Staff Reporter Ms. Minette Perez, also known as “Minnie” to her students, had no idea that this year she would win the title “Rookie Teacher of the Year.” Ms. Perez teaches Drama as well as High School 101/ Leadership. She’s only been teaching for three years.     Most would assume that all the work that Ms. Perez is doing would’ve made her expect this award. Yet Ms. Perez says she didn’t expect it; “not even a little bit. It was a huge surprise,” she said.     Not only is she excited about her own triumph, she is also ecstatic that she won with her fellow co-worker, Mr. Rey Bode.     “If it would’ve been just me, I would’ve been happy but the fact that Bode also won Teacher of the Year made me overjoyed,” said Ms. Perez.     The faculty and staff voted for these nominees to win their respective awards, given that the award is school-level. “It is an honor to have gotten that award because my colleagues voted for it,” she said.     While answering questions, she told one student to tuck in their pockets. “I’m a costume designer, every little detail is important to me,” she laughed.     As most students know, apart from being a costume designer, Ms. Perez is one of the drama teachers and directed the last drama play, ‘Tick Tick…Boom!’ It is the third play she has directed.     “She’s very good at directing, she may be hard on us during rehearsals but it’s always for the best,” said senior Bettina Cristo, a drama student and member of Troupe 6162.     Ms. Perez also prides herself on her Shakespeare knowledge and she teaches her students that. Her students describe her as very helpful during the plays; they even call her “mom” as a loving nickname.     Ms. Perez is also notorious among her students for her “weird” laugh, although only her drama class is allowed to hear it.     “She’s very maternal because I guess we’re like her babies so we joke around with her and call her mom. Since she’s so young and all, she can relate to us and help us out with things,” said Cristo.