Meet the NARA Education Board Members: Kornelia
MEET THE NARA Education
BOARD MEMBER: Kornelia
In our efforts to use education to end poverty, we at NARA Education would like to tell you why we’re in it in the first place, and why education, especially using technology for education, means so much to us.
Earlier this year, we started a monthly series highlighting our board members to give you an opportunity to get to know the people leading our organization because what better way to connect with our organization than to get you up close and personal with the NARA Education board?
We are continuing our Meet the Board Series with Kornelia Peregi. She is one of the biggest proponents of NARA Education’s mission of using education to break barriers and take children to places they’ve never even dreamed of before, which makes her a perfect board member! She brings her own great experiences with education to the table and works hard to make sure that others have access to a similar path that she did.
Kornelia is a professor of English at Lone Star College in Texas. She has been teaching English as a second language to non-natives and English composition for over 30 years. She is originally from Budapest, Hungary and lived behind the Iron Curtain for the majority of her life, only finding out about the rest of the world through books and education. Fluent in multiple languages, she has a Masters in Linguistics from the University of Houston, which she was able to attend only after the fall of the Soviet regime. She owes everything in her life to the education she was able to get, and wants to share that wonderful experience with as many children as she can.
Let’s get to know her on a deeper level.
What is Your Motivation to be a Board Member?
Since education opened the door for me to a meaningful life, I feel privileged to have been asked to be a board member at Nara Education since its philosophy matches mine. I consider the poor, underprivileged children closed off from any chance to break out from their dead end situation without an education. Here comes Nara Education that offers just that absolutely free! And not just school at no cost, but made available with its innovative computer technology even for those children, especially girls, who would not be allowed to “go” to school.
Also, similarly to my situation back in the day, learning English is step one to open the world for the students with limitless opportunities. As an English teacher, I would like to contribute to their journey towards a fulfilling and respectable life.
What Does Education Mean to You?
For me, education means the door to life. We get the basics from our formal schooling, but what ignites our curiosity and interests are usually inspired by a teacher. My geography teacher planted in me the thirst for getting to know different countries, peoples, languages, and cultures. By learning foreign languages, reading books, watching movies, I have been exploring cultures and connecting with people from different parts of the world for several decades now. What education could be more fun than this? Travelling to all these places, of course!
However, for me, growing up in a tiny, closed off, communist Eastern European country, it was only a dream. Since the only way out was the knowledge of languages, I became a teacher of English and French languages and literature. That opened borders not just figuratively, but literally as well. My life had started: I found my calling as a teacher, trying to inspire students to follow their passions, and I had the opportunity to further my education across the ocean on another continent. Learning never ends; it’s the journey of life.
What Did You Want to be When You Grew Up?
I have always been an avid reader since books could transport me to incredible places populated with people with exciting lives and times. I particularly like historical fiction when I can trace real historical figures in real geographical locations. Growing up in Europe, most of my readings took place in different European countries while the Wild West and the fabled East were considered excitingly exotic.
Therefore, when the movie, “Those Magnificent Men with their Flying Machines” came out, depicting an international flying competition where each nation was represented by a native actor, bringing his culture and speaking his language, it was a delightful smorgasbord of cultures for me. Since I liked the French competitor the most, I decided to learn French and travel around the world to see all those places that I had read about. I did become a French teacher and the first foreign country in the West was France that was followed by several others, but “around the world” is still to be accomplished!
What is One New Thing You’ve Learned in the Last Week?
Last week I visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary. The famed exhibition of the day was Master M. S. and His Time, a 16th-century painter in Central Europe in Gothic and early Renaissance art. His identity is still in question, but his most famous work is the survived seven panel paintings out of eight which used to decorate the high altar of a church in Selmecbánya, now in Slovakia.
Since the exhibit gave a detailed historical background, I was surprised to find out that the most notable Hungarian king, Mathias Corvinus’ ahead of time 16th-century Renaissance Place in Visegrád, in the picturesque Danube Bend, was the second biggest and most beautiful Renaissance palace at the time in Europe. Also, his famous library, the Bibliotheca Corvina, housing choice codices (corvinas) was the second biggest after the Vatican Library!
Thank You, Kornelia!
We wouldn’t be able to execute our goals without Kornelia’s innovation and tremendous help. She cares so deeply about the transformative power of education, and wants to make sure that every child has access to it. The passion she brings inspires us and drives us forward everyday.
Follow her example to help our mission now! Donate to NARA Education and you can help use education to end poverty.
Ilona Sindhu
Ilona is a writer focused on Old Norse mythology, drawing from her Hungarian, Pakistani, and American roots. She holds a BA in Dramaturgy and Theatre History from NYU and a Master’s in Religion and Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Her work blends myth, culture, and storytelling across borders.
