About Our District Executive
After spending nearly two decades overseas in the Philippines, Okinawa, Japan,
and Italy Maria now live in Oak Harbor, Washington.
She was born in Subic Bay in the Philippines, where her parents were stationed (her father worked as a civilian engineer for the Naval Calibration Laboratory).
Being half-Filipino, she truly enjoyed living in the Philippines and having family
nearby.
After Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines and the Naval base was
closed, her family received orders to Okinawa, Japan. With her family, Maria has lived in many places, including Oak Harbor, WA, Virginia Beach, VA, and also Italy where
they lived for nearly a decade. While living overseas Maria learned how to speak Spanish and Italian, and is also fluent in Tagalog,
the native language of the Philippines.
While in Italy, Maria attended high school and college. She was president of her class, captain of the cheerleading squad, an officer
in her school’s NJROTC unit, and graduated with honors. After graduating from high school, she went on to attend the
University of Maryland University College – Europe Division earning an A.A. in General Education within the first
ten months of attendance and went on to earn a B.A. in Communications. She graduated from college with honors, after
having been nominated and inducted into the National Dean’s List and, also being inducted into the international honor
society, Phi Theta Kappa. During both high school and college, Maria also volunteered as an editorialist and contributing
writer and photographer for the naval base’s weekly newspaper.
