• 16 years teaching in HPS
• HPS graduate & Hartford resident
• CICD Executive Board Member

Shakira Perez was born and raised in Hartford. She lived in the Rice Heights Housing projects in the Behind the Rocks section of Hartford and attended Hartford Schools all her life. Shakira attended kindergarten and first grade at Kinsella Elementary, second grade at Batchelder Elementary and third through sixth grade at Mary M. Hooker School. She was accepted to the Classical Magnet Program, housed at Quirk Middle School, for grades seven and eight and continued with the program through grade twelve at Hartford Public High School. Shakira attended Capital Community College for a year before transferring to Saint Joseph College, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English. She later returned to Saint Joseph College to complete her Master’s degree in Education.

Shakira is currently teaching the Capstone class at Classical Magnet School. She takes great pride in being a teacher at Classical having graduated from the program in 1995. She feels like she has come full circle and is now able to give back what she has received. In fact, in 2020 she was named Hartford Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year.  She also serves as the senior advisor and an instructional leader. Shakira loves to attend the school’s sports games and can be seen driving teams to their games and rooting from the stands. In the spring, you can catch her coaching the girls’ varsity tennis team.

Shakira enjoys traveling, reading and DIY projects. She is an Executive Board Member of the Connecticut Institute for Community Development (CICD) and recently self-published a choreopoem called Brave Bird.