Christina Lynn Surrency

The rising high school senior walked down the hall of the church annex, when her
minister approached her. He asked her where she was going to college, and she responded that
she was going to Memphis State – one semester at a time – working a semester, saving money
and going to school a semester. The minister asked if she might like to go out of state to college
if there were a scholarship available. Not being totally unaware of how the offer could change
her life, she wisely said, “Of course.” In reality, she had no clue how she might go to college,
had never dreamed she might be able live on campus or go out of state and she knew trying to
be on her own and finish college was a tall order.
The Central High School senior was Christina (Tina) Lynn Surrency, the church was
Idlewild Presbyterian in Memphis, Tennessee, and the minister was Dr. Paul Tudor Jones. As
a result of that interaction, Tina attended Queens College in Charlotte NC on a full scholarship
and became a certified English teacher starting her education career in the Charlotte
Mecklenburg School District. She didn’t know it at the time, but Attorney Howard W. Pritchard
and professional and church friends of her deceased father, John Robert Surrency, made the
church college scholarship possible for her. She qualified for financial aid and scholarships at
Queens. Tina graduated from Queens in 1967.
Tina Surrency went on to work in public education for 30 years in North Carolina – ten
years in the high school English classroom and 20 years in administration. She earned her
doctorate in Educational Leadership at the NCSU College of Education. The doctorate from
NCSU was another pivotal life change and took her to a new career path. Now Dr. Tina Winter,
she retired from public education central office administration, and she made a career change to
IBM as a consultant and project manager for large technology projects such as enterprise
information systems for agencies such as Gwinnett Public Schools, New York City Schools ,
Atlanta Public Schools, Grand Cayman and the NC Department of Public Instruction.
Dr. Winter's career in public education from the business and industry perspective was
thrilling. Her career took her to work with schools across Hawaii, Qatar, the United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Puerto Rico, Nova Scotia and American Samoa. Nothing delighted her more
- professionally- than to walk through schools in foreign countries, other states and territories
and learn about education and educators around the world. And she loved to share her world
and work experiences to drive school improvement and student achievement.