Estelita Vargas Malicsi

Lita is a retired English, speech, and theater arts teacher and a theater director
for the Minneapolis Public Schools. She received her BS in education, cum laude,
from Centro Escolar University in Manila, where she obtained her master of arts
degree in English. At the University of Minnesota, she obtained a master of arts
degree in English and speech and theater arts. Lita was a three-term (six-year) president of the Fil-Minnesotan Association and has directed numerous artistic/cultural stage productions for the local Asian American community and the larger Minnesota community. To date, she has directed between 200 and 250 stage productions. She is the current advisor of the Fil-Minnesotan Association, PROfficer of the Philippine Center of Minnesota (PCM), and the head of the Filipino Community Organizations (FCO).

Lita was named 1996 Minnesota Teacher of the Year by WCCO. In 1990, she was one of twenty teachers named a Teacher of Excellence in the State of MN. A 1990 recipient of the Governor’s Award for her work in education and leadership, she has served on the advisory boards of numerous nonprofits, including KTCA-TV, the Minnesota Humanities Commission, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the board of trustees of the Richfield Foundation, Roosevelt HS Foundation, Ordway Theater Advisory Council, Mu Performing Arts, and the University of Minnesota President’s Advisory Council. In 2017, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis.

Lita is married to Abe Malicsi, a retired chemical engineer. Their son Allen Malicsi,
a graduate of St. John’s University, earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership. Lita enjoys reading in her free time between community service projects and her present job as a professional language interpreter. Next to family, she heartily treasures her friends.