Fernandez-Bryant served on the writing team that developed the proposal which was eventually submitted and accepted by the District Board of Education. At the time of the proposal, Fernandez-Bryant was not yet certified to take the assistant principalship, but after quickly completing all the necessary course work and passing all the exams, she was able to do so upon the opening of the school in the fall of 1995.

"It was amazing to be a part of the creation of a school," Fernandez-Bryant said. "It was one thing to imagine it, but another to see our proposal actually come to fruition."

Fernandez-Bryant, who was born in Cuba but brought to the United States at 31 days old, always knew she wanted to work in a school. She recalls her childhood days when she used to make all of the neighborhood children sit around and play school with her.

Dreams of teaching soon became a reality after Fernandez-Bryant finished her elementary education at Florida International University. In 1983, the idealistic teacher began working at Flamingo Elementary. Two years after working there as a teacher, Fernandez-Bryant began working as the school's Title 1 facilitator, a position which entailed her spending half of her time teaching, and the other half overseeing the school's programs and other teachers' classrooms.

Enjoying her work as the Title 1 facilitator, Fernandez-Bryant decided to apply for the position of Region 2 facilitator, which included similar tasks as her former job, but was further reaching. The new position required her to oversee the programs and classrooms of the whole region.

"It was an easy transition for me to move from the classroom to administration because, unlike many teachers, I was able to do it over quite a few years," she said.

According to staff, teachers and parents, Fernandez-Bryant seems like she has been working at Pinecrest forever.

"She fits in like she has been here for years," said Frank Pistella, the new principal at Pinecrest.

In fact, Fernandez-Bryant recently wrote a letter to the PTA in which she explained how much she feels like she is home at Pinecrest.