Two Years of…
January 12, 2018
“Patience”
Junior Emily Mordecai, Ambush staff, remembers the tests of Cristales’ patience all too well.
“Every deadline is a test of her patience. She gets stressed but she never loses her patience with us. She’s still the kind and understanding person she always is and it’s nice to know that she doesn’t give up on us.”
“Passion”
Junior Meagan Biedinger, staff member of the Ambush for two years recalls many fond memories of Cristales.
“Going to the dinner at JEA is my favorite memory of Cristales,” Biedinger said, “Being comfortable enough with a teacher to be able to talk about real life is really important and comforting.”
While standing in line to pay, Biedinger and her friends received a text stating an incident had happened at Braswell High School involving an ambulance arriving at the school. Immediately the group pulled out their phones and began canvassing their friends to figure out what had happened. Biedinger recalls Cristales looking at them with pride as she said, “I’ve raised journalists!”
“Mentoring”
For Senior yearbook Editor Lauryn Jones, Erin Cristales is her teacher, mentor, and friend.
“She helped me a lot with writing stories,” Jones said, “On my old staff there were designated writers therefore I never had to write. Coming here I had to write like four stories, so she helped me to fully understand my writing and not sound like an idiot.”
Jones sends her best wishes to Cristales in her journey at UNT and hopes to inspire the rest of her staff at Braswell like Cristales inspires her.
“A Cinephile”
“We’d always talk about our different opinions on movies, she was always very educated on every movie we would debate,” Sophomore and BHS Now reporter Melody Henry said.
“Respect”
While BHS Now staff member Andy Moreno claims he wasn’t the closest to Cristales, he thinks of her very highly and has cherished his time working with her.
“I don’t have a distinct memory like everyone else does but I give her so much respect for helping me out with the film festival,” Moreno said. “From telling her classes to participate, the quiz she did, to just showing up. She didn’t have to do any of that but I am so thankful that she did. She partially made my dream come true and I am beyond thankful. It won’t be the same without her around, and I am still so thankful for all the opportunities and help she has given to me.”
“Being Well-Written”
BHS Beat opinion writer Mary Miller says that her favorite memory of Cristales was having her teach her the ins-and-outs of journalism.
“Having her help me write my first column for newspaper because I never took journalism 1,” Miller said. “So she really helped me because I’ve never written anything journalistic before that but thanks to her It has now become a really big part of my life”
All in all, Erin Cristales has ignited a fire in all of her students inspiring each and everyone of them inside and out of the classroom.
Thank you, Mrs. Cristales
Special contributors include all staff members of the Ambush, The Bengal Beat, and BHS NOW
