Aurelis Lugo, Visual Arts Specialist at Herbert Akins Road Middle School, is a proud Puerto Rican artist, educator, and advocate who uses art as a tool for healing, empowerment, and social change. With more than sixteen years of teaching experience in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, she brings both global perspective and deep passion to her classroom. Honored as Herbert Akins Road Middle’s 2024 Teacher of the Year, Aurelis believes in the power of art to connect, inspire, and transform.

Her impact reaches well beyond the classroom walls. She leads annual student exhibitions such as We Can Too, which celebrates the creativity of students with severe mobility and mental disabilities, and she organizes open studio nights that invite families and the broader community into the art-making process. As an accomplished artist herself, Aurelis has exhibited her work internationally in Puerto Rico, the United States, London, Tokyo, and the Dominican Republic, including her contribution to Celestina Siempre Viva, a book honoring Puerto Rico’s first woman teacher. Through teaching and creating, she embodies her belief that art tells stories and builds bridges across cultures, communities, and generations.