As a proud bilingual educator, Silvia Ortiz exemplifies excellence in teaching, leadership and advocacy for bilingual learners at her school and in her small rural district. Ortiz is a passionate advocate for her mostly Latinx bilingual students as an English Language Development Teacher at Hudson Elementary School in Weld RE-3 School District. 

As a member of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education鈥檚 Northeast Teacher Cohort, Otriz was able to earn her Master鈥檚 Equity Bilingualism and Biliteracy from the CU 麻豆影院 School of Education by attending courses close to home in Brighton and alongside 20 peer educators across three districts in the rural northeast region of Colorado.

Respected by her colleagues and revered in her community, Ortiz is also a strong bilingual writer and thinker. She completed her Teacher Inquiry Project, the culminating project and report for her master鈥檚 program, bilingually written in Spanish and English where she explored bilingual identities of her young Latinx students through linguistically and culturally responsive children鈥檚 literature. 

For her work as an exemplary educator and graduate student, Ortiz has been selected the 2024 Outstanding Graduate of the Master鈥檚 in Equity, Bilingualism and Biliteracy Program by the faculty in the BUENO Center. However, she has been a member of BUENO Center community since she participated first in the BUENO Career Ladder program in 2005, a partnership between CU 麻豆影院 and Aims Community College, on her pathway to becoming a teacher. Engaging in the master鈥檚 program helped bring Ortiz鈥檚 career, education, and connections with CU 麻豆影院 full circle.

In her own words

Please tell us a bit about yourself

  My journey to CU 麻豆影院 is a unique one. I reside in the Brighton area and teach in a small town in Northeastern Colorado. During my undergraduate program, I had the privilege of participating in the BUENO program through the Career Ladder Program. This experience not only deepened my passion for educational equity but also paved the way for my decision to pursue my master鈥檚 degree through the BUENO program at CU 麻豆影院. The opportunity to return to BUENO now as a graduate student was a clear sign that this was the right path for me."

What is one of the most significant lessons from your time at CU 麻豆影院 that you鈥檒l carry with you into the next chapter?

  I have always considered myself a lifelong learner, and my time at CU 麻豆影院 has satiated my desire to explore new learning and revive my passion for equity for bilingual learners. The most profound and significant lesson I take away from my time at CU 麻豆影院 is this: all of our students come to us with various gifts and talents. It is up to us, educators, to explore such gifts and talents and leverage them to inspire and nurture independent learners and thinkers. By disrupting injustices created by systemic oppression we give our students the opportunities to thrive."

What does graduating from CU 麻豆影院 represent for you and/or your community?

  Graduating from CU 麻豆影院 as a BUENO Center master鈥檚 student is a momentous achievement. CU 麻豆影院 has always been at the forefront of educational equity and advocacy for bilingual students and communities. As a Latina, this accomplishment holds a special place in my heart. It is a testament to my dedication and the support I have received from my community. This honor will undoubtedly enrich my work with my brilliant bilingual students."

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

  I believe that one鈥檚 most remarkable ability is the ability to use metacognition. The ability to evaluate, monitor, and apply new teachings to our understanding is essential. A student with the caliber of being a critical thinker and having metacognitive awareness will find success in their endeavors."

What are your next steps after graduation?

  As a lifelong learner, I have enjoyed my time as a student. Now is the time to apply all of what I've learned. My graduate program was robust and rich, with mastery in the field of educational equity. Now is my time to discern how best to apply my newfound knowledge in my specific role. Furthermore, I would like to inspire other educators through my example and leadership."

Off

Growing up in Kansas and venturing out for vacations only as far as the family car would reach, Molly Hamm-Rodr铆guez never dreamed she would find her calling in international education and the Dominican Republic. 

Now, she is graduating with her doctorate in equity, bilingualism and biliteracy from the CU 麻豆影院 School of Education, and her groundbreaking research in the Dominican Republic has led to her work being honored with the CU 麻豆影院 School of Education鈥檚 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award.

As a master鈥檚 student at Teachers College at Columbia University, Hamm-Rodr铆guez worked with a nonprofit organization in the Dominican Republic, where she was hired after graduation to support hundreds of young people through a youth workforce development program. There, she discovered the program鈥檚 international sponsors, including the U.S. government, imagined a linear path between education, employment, and economic mobility in the Caribbean nation, but that was not what she saw working alongside the youth. As someone tasked with grant writing and program assessment, Hamm-Rodr铆guez was positioned to replicate the existing narrative rather than question it. 

鈥淚 saw clearly how the local tourism industry constrained the jobs made available to youth and that, contrary to its promises, it could not resolve social inequalities,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was undeniable that my own employment in a community where youth and their families struggled to make ends meet was part of the larger problem that I needed to question.

鈥淚 completed my dissertation research with these tensions at the forefront, and my work continues to be fueled by a desire to contest and deconstruct these inequities through ongoing collaborations with institutions in the Dominican Republic as well as through teaching, research, and service in my future job at the University of South Florida.鈥�

Hamm-Rodr铆guez鈥檚 dissertation, 鈥淩e-Storying Paradise: Language, Imperial Formations of Tourism, and Youth Futures in the Dominican Republic,鈥� focuses on the struggles of Black Dominican and Haitian youth who seek education and employment opportunities amidst the social stratifications generated by tourism in the island nation. Her research, weaving ethnographic methods and youth participatory action research, reveals how youth build solidarity across social difference and find commonalities in their struggles against anti-Blackness. 

Hamm-Rodr铆guez鈥檚 innovative scholarship was awarded support of many highly competitive national fellowships and grants, including the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, the Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant in Linguistics, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, the Philanthropic Educational Organization Scholar Award, and the Foreign Language Studies Fellowship for Haitian Creole. 

Hamm-Rodr铆guez鈥檚 approach to multilingualism, with a focus on the Caribbean, is grounded in sociocultural and critical theories of language and literacy development, and her interdisciplinary scholarship will be influential in the field of educational inquiry and beyond. 

One of Hamm-Rodr铆guez鈥檚 award nominators explained: 鈥淎s an Afro-Dominican member of the academy, I have felt honored to have interacted with Molly, in whom I readily recognized an emerging scholar, and privileged to have been invited to participate on the dissertation committee,鈥� said Almeida Jacqueline Toribio from the University of Texas Austin. 鈥淗er dissertation project is critical in situating the research squarely within Dominican institutions, instigating a thorough-going interrogation of the parallel prejudices of racial bias and standard language ideologies, which are perpetuated by the nation state and which prove particularly injurious to Dominican youth. 

鈥淚 have been especially impressed by Molly鈥檚 abiding attentiveness to understanding and centering the lived experiences of minoritized youth and with her attendant dedication to supporting and uplifting these marginalized groups through proposals for programmatic interventions.鈥� 

Hamm-Rodr铆guez鈥檚 experience with youth in the Dominican Republic led her to seek a PhD in education to address her questions about education, society, and inequity. Now, she is leaving CU 麻豆影院 with a wealth of experiences, the ongoing support from her advisor, Mileidis Gort, and other faculty, and lifelong friendships from her doctoral cohort. However, Hamm-Rodr铆guez notes, she is graduating with even more questions than she started with鈥攕omething she considers a good sign as a budding scholar. 

鈥淕raduating from CU 麻豆影院 does not represent an end but rather a beginning to me, as learning and unlearning is a lifelong journey,鈥� she said. 鈥淩ather than leaving with a title, I know that I am leaving with new ways of thinking and being that I will continue to use for social change.鈥�

In her own words:

Please tell us a bit about yourself

  I was born and raised in Kansas and grew up taking road trips to Colorado in the summers, since my mom grew up here. We rarely took vacations and only to destinations where we could drive--I did not have the chance to fly on an airplane or see the ocean until I was 18. So I never imagined that my future education, work, and personal life would extend as geographically far as it has. I studied secondary education and English literature as an undergraduate at Kansas State University. After student teaching with 8th and 10th graders in Kansas City, I began a master鈥檚 program in international and comparative education at Teachers College, Columbia University. I was originally interested in studying bilingual education, but that program focus area was restructuring and I found more faculty support for research on education in Latin America. During the program, I worked with a nonprofit organization in the Dominican Republic and was hired for a full-time role upon graduation. After working there for five years, I became interested in doctoral programs and reached out to CU 麻豆影院 Ph.D. students a few times before finally deciding to apply. I was initially interested in CU because my parents and twin sister had moved to Colorado and I wanted to live near them, but after having a Zoom conversation with my future advisor, Dr. Mileidis Gort, and meeting my EBB cohort during finalist weekend (Becca Flores, Danny Garzon, and Mar铆a Ru铆z-Mart铆nez) I was even more excited to bring my interest in studying bilingual education full circle."

What is one of the lessons from your time at CU 麻豆影院 that you鈥檒l carry with you into the next chapter?

  Meeting my best friend, Astrid Sambol铆n Morales. We were put in touch even before the program started, had a class together the first semester, and became fast friends. But our friendship deepened through our shared commitments to bring attention to the experiences of children and families displaced from Puerto Rico (Astrid鈥檚 home) after Hurricane Mar铆a in 2017. We collaborated on a meaningful research project in Florida, traveling to both Orlando and Tampa together and creating many memories alongside having really difficult conversations. This experience led to collaborations with four high school teachers who joined us in Colorado for a conference on place and displacement sponsored by the URBAN Network. I have stayed in touch with one of the teachers, whose family is from the Dominican Republic, and met her extended family several times while in the country. Astrid and I talk almost everyday (despite her being in Ohio), sharing life鈥檚 ups and downs. There has been no greater gift from my time at CU! Staying connected to our support networks, no matter the distance, makes a world of difference..鈥�

What does graduating from CU 麻豆影院 represent for you and/or your community?

  I started the PhD program because I had a lot of questions about education, society, and inequity, and I wanted to become better about deeply understanding and answering those questions. Well, I鈥檓 leaving with even more questions, which I consider to be a good sign that I鈥檓 in a better place than when I began. Graduating from CU 麻豆影院 does not represent an end but rather a beginning to me, as learning and unlearning is a lifelong journey. Rather than leaving with a title, I know that I am leaving with new ways of thinking and being that I will continue to use for social change.鈥�

What is your best piece of advice for incoming students?

  Be open to surprises and follow your curiosity. Engage with the complexity of human experience. Seek feedback and be open to critique, give feedback generously. Read outside of your discipline. Do your best not to lose yourself on the journey, and don鈥檛 compare your journey to anyone else鈥檚. Center what matters to you and you will find your way.鈥�

What continues to drive your passion for your work after graduation?

   My passion for the work that I do has many roots, but a significant turning point began more than a decade ago when I supported hundreds of young people in the Dominican Republic through a youth workforce development program. During this experience, I found that international donors, such as the U.S. government, imagined a linear path between education, employment, and economic mobility. Having been hired to write grants and measure program outcomes, I was often positioned to replicate these discourses rather than question them. But this became increasingly more difficult to do. I saw clearly how the local tourism industry constrained the jobs made available to youth and that, contrary to its promises, it could not resolve social inequalities. And it was undeniable that my own employment in a community where youth and their families struggled to make ends meet was part of the larger problem that I needed to question. I completed my dissertation research with these tensions at the forefront, and my work continues to be fueled by a desire to contest and deconstruct these inequities through ongoing collaborations with institutions in the Dominican Republic as well as through teaching, research, and service in my future job at the University of South Florida. In the current political context, it is more important than ever to emphasize how attacks on public education and on racialized communities is not new and to continue educating young people for social justice.鈥�

Off