Members of the N. Macedonian delegation with San Antonio Mayor and Trinity alum, Ron Nirenberg, Trinity University President, Dr. Vanessa Beasley, and Department of Education Chair and Professor, Dr. Angela Breidenstein.
Trinity volleyball players and alumni coaching a group of N. Macedonia students and volleyball players in Skopje, N. Macedonia.
Upward Bound high school student presenting a poster on San Antonio’s history and cultural significance to the N. Macedonian delegation during their visit to Trinity University.
CEL MISSION
Leadership Development & Professional Services. The CEL develops and implements educational and professional development opportunities for school and community leaders, including offering seminars and aspiring leadership workshops for members of the San Antonio community.
Praxis-Oriented Research. The CEL facilitates and conducts research that is relevant to educational policy and practice, meaningful to the schools and communities of San Antonio and South Texas, and transformational for schools, communities, and students and their families.
Educational Initiatives & Partnerships. The CEL engages with partners to build leadership pathways across school-community contexts, and leads major educational transformation initiatives with non-profit, policy, research and philanthropic organizations across the P20 continuum.
Convenings & Events. The CEL convenes education and community thought leaders to share ideas, programs and approaches to improving education, and facilitates conversations on increasing educational opportunity, fostering transformational leadership, and promoting community-building and social justice praxis.
SUBMIT TO THE FORUM
The CEL invites authors to submit pieces of 1,500-2,000 words on topics related to educational leadership program innovations, educational policy, community building, and youth and teacher leadership. Any inquiries may be directed to CEL staff.
TRINITY
LEADERSHIP FORUM
Editor Enrique Alemán, Jr., Ph.D
Associate Editors
Lisa Mendoza Knecht, Ph.D.
Vangie Aguilera, Ed.D.
Art Director
Genevieve Humphreys
Publication is published by the Center for Educational Leadership. Trinity’s Center for Educational Leadership provides regular cohortbased convenings, national speakers on critical education issues, as well as targeted learning seminars for continued leadership development. Since its establishment in 1982, CEL has provided thought leadership, innovative leadership programs, and professional development for school districts.
CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP TEAM
Enrique Alemán, Jr., Ph.D. Lillian Radford Endowed Professor of Education Director, CEL Director, Trinity Tomorrow’s Leaders Program ealeman@trinity.edu
Angela Breidenstein, Ed.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Education abreiden@trinity.edu
Evangeline Aguilera, Ed.D. Leadership Coordinator, CEL Executive Director, Trinity School Design Network eaguiler@trinity.edu
Lisa Mendoza Knecht, Ph.D. Educational Research Associate, CEL lknecht@trinity.edu
Lisa Chavez, M.S. Senior Program Coordinator, CEL lchavez2@trinity.edu
EXAMINING THE EXPERIENCES OF CITIZEN SPORT DIPLOMATS: AN APPROACH TO LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP
Angela Breidenstein
Jacob K. Tingle
Randall J. Griffiths 1
SUPPORTING TEEN MOTHERS THROUGH POLICY ADVOCACY
Yvette Peña Cook
Jennifer Garcia
Maria O’Connor 2
3
UNRAVELING LATINA LEADERSHIP: FINDING MY AUTHENTIC VOICE, COMBATTING IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Melissa Holguin
Macedonian delegation coaching Upward Bound high school students in volleyball skills, following the Upward Bound student presentations on San Antonio. Activities held in the Bell Center on the campus of Trinity University.
ANGELA BREIDENSTEIN
JACOB K. TINGLE
RANDALL J. GRIFFITHS1
EXAMINING THE EXPERIENCES OF CITIZEN SPORT DIPLOMATS: AN APPROACH TO LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP
My experience as a delegate to North Macedonia was an enriching and impactful experience. Meeting with local leaders provided valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities for youth sports in North Macedonia. Understanding the cultural context and collaborating with community stakeholders are crucial steps in fostering sustainable development initiatives.
Micaeli Smith, Director of Health & Wellness, Comal Independent School District & Trinity Alumnae (BS 2008, MAT 2009)
INTRODUCTION 2
A year ago, a delegation of Trinity University students, staff, faculty, and alumni/current K-12 educators, along with a colleague from the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW), traveled to Skopje, North Macedonia (N. Macedonia). This delegation was the outbound delegation of a two-way exchange sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Youth Leadership Through Sport program. 3 Motivated by a gap in literature on the emic perspective of citizen sport diplomats and, heeding Chadwick’s (2022) call
for more research on elements of soft power and grassroots diplomacy using sport, the purpose of our research is to document, explore, and reflect upon our personal experiences as citizen sport diplomats. As we initiated this work, we became curious about our roles as leaders and wanted to understand how we engaged as participants in multiple citizen diplomacy programs, including this exchange, in previous U.S. State Department exchanges (including in Tunisia in 2019 and in Uzbekistan in 2023), as well as inbound experiences we had in San Antonio
(with delegations from Serbia & Croatia in 2022, and from Zambia in 2024). The scholarship we describe here seeks to expand upon the current knowledge base, both by exploring the experiences of citizen sport diplomats and by using a unique methodology underrepresented in extant literature.
OUR CONTEXT: SPORT ACROSS CULTURE, HISTORY AND LANGUAGE
Our March 2024 exchange with N. Macedonian volleyball coaches was supported by a grant from PH International (PH), an intermediary for educational and cultural sport exchanges. Travel to N. Macedonia followed an inbound experience with the N. Macedonian delegation in July 2023 during which we hosted 12 volleyball coaches at Trinity and in San Antonio. For the outbound phase, we coordinated with PH and designed, led, and facilitated programming in the U.S. During this phase, our team was responsible for recruiting participants and coordinating the delegation’s travel logistics, while our N. Macedonian counterparts designed and enacted the agenda for activities in N. Macedonia in coordination with PH. Thus, for the outbound phase,
we served as both program leaders and participants.
Our U.S. delegation consisted of five current Trinity undergraduate students, a Trinity assistant volleyball coach, two sport management graduate students, a PreK-12 Physical Education and Wellness Coordinator from a local school district, one high school English teacher, a sport nonprofit leader, and three universitybased faculty. All but one of our participants were Trinity alumni. Ten delegates either are or were collegiate volleyball players during their time in college.
INBOUND EXCHANGE
In July 2023, 12 N. Macedonian volleyball coaches spent 10 days in San Antonio, during which they participated in workshops learning about the U.S. education system, leadership principles, nutrition and its impact on performance, and holistic wellbeing. They also participated in
discussions about why sports organizations and schools should focus on creating inclusive environments, while participating in coaching clinics with volleyball coaches from Trinity and UIW.
We collaboratively designed the inbound program with leaders of the N. Macedonian delegation, which included engaging with a broad range of local delegates including: Trinity Upward Bound students from McCollum, Harlandale, Edgewood, and Kennedy high schools; Trinity University faculty, staff, and university leaders including President Vanessa Beasley; staff from the San Antonio Spurs, the San Antonio Football Club, San Antonio Sports, University of the Incarnate Word, Morgan’s Wonderland, and STRAPS; teachers, coaches, and principals from LEE High School and the International School of the Americas; and, San Antonio civic leaders including, Trinity alum and San Antonio Mayor, Ron Nirenberg (BA, 1999), the Council of International Visitors, the city’s Office of Global
Members of the Trinity delegation with N. Macedonian volleyball coaches and players.
Engagement. The inbound exchange also featured guided tours of downtown, the San Antonio river, and Mission San José as well as visits to El Mercado, tubing on the Comal River, a night at Cowboys Dancehall, watching a San Antonio Fútbal Club match, and a behind the scenes tour of the Alamodome.
In describing the impact of hosting the inbound inexperience, Jacob stated: “The one-on-one conversations with delegates about their athletic experiences, about their fight for democracy, and about their language, culture, and heritage helped reframe my understanding of freedom, equality, and inclusion.”
OUTBOUND EXCHANGE
The outbound exchange took place in March 2024 and was collaboratively designed by two members of the N. Macedonian delegation, Arso Zdravkovski and Marjan Trajkovski, Ben Simone of PH, and us. The nine days in N. Macedonia were based in Skopje, the nation’s capital, with day trips to Strumica and Tetovo and an overnight trip to Bitola and Lake Ohrid. Each day’s activities were led by Arso and Marjan as well as inbound delegate Dimitar Gatovski. Additionally, the delegation was accompanied by two local primary and middle school teachers who served as our interpreters and provided us with important language lessons and cultural guidance.
Each day included at least one visit to a school or university, or to one of the N. Macedonian’s sports clubs. The N. Macedonian coaches were eager to reciprocate the learning and hospitality they received in San Antonio and to contribute to the program outcomes by hosting us. During this experience we also met with chief officers from local and national sport organizations (including the Macedonian Tennis Federation and the Macedonian Olympic Committee); teachers and principals from primary and secondary schools; presidents, rectors, and faculty from three different N. Macedonian universities; mayors from numerous cities and municipalities; and, executives from industries that support
sport for all programs around the country. Additionally, the eight U.S. delegates who were volleyball players or coaches led clinics for school and youth club teams, and participated in two scrimmages against professional volleyball teams. An undergraduate student, Kathryn Detweiler (BA, 2025), and member of our U.S. delegation, reflected on our experience by speaking to the significance of the engaged learning that she participated in, and the bonds that were created with volleyball players from across the ocean. She stated:
alongsidetheminthedrillsandsaw ourselvesatthatagethroughthem. Itopenedmyeyestothegameasa commonlanguageandcommonbond. Ilearnedalotthroughthisexperience as it pertains to the connections possiblejustbylisteningandlearning fromeachother.
Another highlight of the exchange included a visit to the U.S. Embassy and having an audience with Ms. Dolores Prin, Public Affairs Officer, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, Augusta Philbin, and Borka Tanesta, Cultural Affairs Assistant.4
As grassroots diplomats, we planned for and enacted formal greetings and gift exchanges in all of our settings, including meetings with mayors and high ranking officials from three municipalities in Skopje, the mayor of the city of Strumica,
← Delegates enjoying a San Antonio River Boat tour.
← Inbound experience that included a meal at Mi Tierra in San Antonio, Texas.
the Olympic Committee President, and university and school leaders. In addition, we distributed participation among all delegation members including our cultural outings to Mount Vodno, Canyon Matka, Vrelo Cave, the Skopje Fortress, Turkish Bazaar, Mustafa Pasha Mosque, and the Mother Teresa Monument. Finally, our group was fortunate to learn from the N. Macedonian delegation about the history of St. Cyril and the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet. Perhaps the biggest impact felt by U.S. delegation is exemplified by high school teacher and Trinity graduate, Katrina Munoz (MAT, 2024), who described the relationships that were forged across culture and language, and how sport became the medium from which this impact took place. She stated:
dive into the different Macedonian dishes,andmeettrulyexceptional people.Iamtrulygratefulforthekind hospitalityofourMacedonianhosts, thejoyandlaughsofthedelegates whoparticipatedinthetrip,andthe amazingleaderswhoinvitedmeon thisjourney.Iamgenuinelylooking forwardtocarryingwhatI’velearned andexperiencedonthistripwithme throughoutmycareerandlife.
N. Macedonian Exchange Leader Marjan Trajkovski leading a session with civic and educational leaders at the Cyril and Methodius Primary School about the school and educational system as well as the municipality of Gazi Baba. This session also included a tour of the school and watching volleyball matches in the school’s sport hall.
U.S. Embassy at Skopje, N. Macedonia personnel presenting to the U.S. delegation.
Current and former Trinity volleyball players at Lake Ohrid in N. Macedonia.
←
A SPORTS AS DIPLOMACY THEORETICAL GROUNDING
We are grounding both our scholarly and programmatic work in the literature on sport as diplomacy. As Murray wrote (2018), “Throughout the ages it is diplomacy - not trade, statecraft, or armed force - that has been the difference between war and peace, chaos and order, suffering and progress” (p. 19). This idea of state-led diplomacy to enhance relations across nations saw rapid growth throughout the colonial period (Grosfoguel, 2009) and has traditionally been the purview of professional state actors and dignitaries. Although this traditional framing is important for us to consider, it is also a framing that sets forth “a dichotomy between those in power…and those in need of being saved, governed, and emancipated” (Oxford, 2019, p. 1027). Our approach and our current line of thinking is to problematize these traditional notions by utilizing non-state actors as an alternative to traditional, colonially-based and state-centered diplomacy. Scholars have begun to consider how increased engagement of citizen diplomats engaged in sports can hold unique possibilities (Garamvölgyi, et al., 2020), including sport’s ability to disrupt the power dichotomies common in traditional state-centered diplomacy (Baker, et al.,
2018). Our goal is to contribute to this line of scholarship and thinking. Although sport diplomacy has seen significant growth in the inclusion of citizen diplomats (European Commission, 2018; Murray, 2018), research investigating the conceptual and theoretical levels of this phenomenon is still in its nascent phase and is growing (Geis et al., 2022; Rofe, 2021). We believe that more research focused on illuminating the experiences of grassroots level citizen diplomats involved in networked sport diplomacy (Murry, 2018) could expand future opportunities for international collaboration, as well as help those engaged in this work to anticipate potential challenges and inform program design and leadership decisions (Garamvölgyi et al., 2022). What is clear to us in our most recent inbound and outbound experiences is that our participants have benefited from learning and engaging with educators and leaders from an international context. For example, Jenna Rodriguez, an undergraduate student stated:
First,learningadifferentculture through sports was not only touching,butagreatexperience thatwecanbringbacktothestates anduseitforthewaywedothings overhere.Notonlydidwelearn
aboutthegreatthingstheydoin Macedonia,butthewarmwelcome they gave us every day, not just ourleaders,buteveryonewemet there. We got to meet different mayors,professors,coaches,players, teachers,andgreatfamiliesIwill neverforget.Thesefriendshipsand connectionsarelifelong.Iappreciate our great leaders from Trinity Universityaswellforworkshopping asagroup,talkingaboutwhatwe wereexperiencingandwhatothers thoughtourgroupwasthinking atthemoment.Iwillneverforget theselessons,changesinsports,and newconnections/familyIgained inMacedoniathatIcanuseformy futureprofession,mostlikelyin sports!
Inspired by examples such as this, our team has continued to engage in conversations regarding our own experiences on these exchanges. In addition, we have collectively continued to review scholarship regarding sport diplomacy for relevant work that might help our sense-making (Weick, 2000). Much of the literature focuses on high level programmatic outcomes and shortterm impacts of the exchanges (Baker et al., 2018; Blom et al., 2019; Hansell et al., 2023). There has been no literature directly exploring the lived experiences
The delegation toured the Macedonian Olympic Committee (MOK) facilities and participated in a discussion with MOK President Daniel Dimevski, Sporting Director Vladimir Bogoevski, and Program Director Sarah Glovac, who is pictured with Trinity students and alumni, including assistant volleyball coach Maggi Linker.
of the citizen sport diplomats themselves nor their intercultural sensitivity development beyond mere contact (Allport, 1954) and ethnocentrism to greater ethnorelativism (Bennett, 2013) which is central to grassroots diplomacy success. Further, much of the sport diplomacy scholarship is quantitative in nature so qualitative studies that humanize the stakeholders themselves are key to developing this literature (Baker et al., 2018; Murray & Pigman, 2013; Pamment, 2016; Rofe, 2021). Asking our participants to engage in critical self reflection has enabled us to begin this process of humanizing our experiences via this qualitative data collection method. For example, Maggi Linker, an assistant volleyball coach and Trinity alumnae shared:
I am very grateful for the opportunitytojointhisdelegation to North Macedonia. We had so manywonderfulcoachesopenthe doorstotheirgymsforusandit wasveryinspiringtoseehowmuch wewereallabletolearnfromeach otherasaresult.Oneveryunique lessonIlearnedisaroundthehuge impactthatallowingathletesof varyingagestocompetealongside each other can have. In the United States,wetypicallyseparateout everyagegroupandwhilethiscan behelpful,thistripreallyopened myeyestohowbeneficialitcan betohaveplayersofvariousages working and learning alongside eachother.Thisapproachallowsfor youngerathletestolearnalotfrom athletesthattheyoftenlookupto andencouragestheolderplayersto haveanevendeeperunderstanding oftheirskills,becausetheymaybe askedtoprovidefeedbacktothe youngerplayers .
OUR JOURNEY FORWARD
Studying multi-stakeholder sport diplomacy supported by governments and conducted by non-state actors (Murray & Pigman, 2013) is challenging and needs
deeper exploration (Garamvölgy et al., 2020). In order for multi-stakeholder sport diplomacy (Murray & Pigman, 2013) to be truly effective there must be both: 1) a commitment from government agencies (e.g. U.S. Department of State) to provide financial support, direct human capital, and inducements for local actors to participate, and 2) openminded, interculturally competent (or curious) diplomats (Pamment, 2016; Rofe, 2021). This challenging mix needs deeper exploration (Garamvölgy et al., 2020), and we believe that our research is a first step toward meeting this challenge.
Some have also argued that the dearth of research exploring grassroots sport diplomacy, other than through basic quantitative analysis (Hansell et al., 2024), highlights how little is known about its power and impact - especially on the non-state diplomats themselves (Blom et al., 2020). Given that sport diplomacy’s outcomes include both expected benefits and unintended consequences - which are influenced by participants’ constant negotiation and navigation of the environment (Nygård & Gates, 2013) - utilizing methods which investigate the lived experiences of participants in these programs would provide richness, depth, and nuance. As Baker et al. (2018) note, how sport diplomacy programs assemble and prepare individual diplomats impacts the success and outcomes of those exchanges. Previous research on individuals in sport diplomacy has provided important insights focused on broad outcomes when administrators, athletes, or coaches participate in international sport events (Murray, 2018), but what seems to be missing is understanding the impact on individual delegates themselves. There is minimal research exploring elements of sport diplomacy related to the personal and intercultural growth of non-state delegates.
As Hansell et al., (2024) indicated, this “means moving beyond outcome-based approaches that measure short-term, transactional ‘impact’ (e.g., pre- and posttests) toward deeper reflection” (p. 28). As we continue to engage in this work and learn from one another, we want to continue with our “eyes wide open,” as
suggested by one of the members of our delegation. Moving forward deliberately, our goal is to not only program these experiences, but to contribute to the growing literature on cross cultural exchanges, sports, leadership development, and international collaboration. Tayler Spotswood, a Trinity alumnae, summarized it well for us. She shared:
Thisexchangeopenedmyeyestohow sporttrulyisaconnectorbetween countries.Itdidnotmatterthatwedo notsharethesameprimarylanguage, andhavedifferentbackgrounds,when wewereonthecourttogether,there was no difference. I was nervous beforeIranmyclinicwithyouth volleyball players that language wouldbeabarrier,butIwaswrong. Communicationwassurprisinglyeasy andthefoundationofvolleyballwas understoodregardlessoflanguage. Ourloveforthesportofvolleyball transcended all of our differences. TheserelationshipswithMacedonian coachesIwillcherishandlookforward tostrengtheningthemforyearsto come.
It is in this spirit of critical self reflection, experiential learning and leadership across international contexts that we move forward in our professional and scholarly journey.
ENDNOTES
1 In addition to presenting this work at the 2024 European Sport Management Conference in Paris, France, and being accepted to present at the upcoming 2025 North American Society for Sport Management conference in San Diego, California, an extended version of this manuscript is under review at the European Sport Management Quarterly.
2 In this first of two articles, we focus on the context of the exchange, the concept of citizen sport diplomacy broadly, and our research methodology. For the next issue of this journal, we will share our learning from the experience - research outcomes and reflections - as well as implications for continued research and praxis.
3 See https://www.trinity.edu/news/trinity-hosts-sports-diplomacy-exchange-north-macedonia and https://www.trinity.edu/news/trinity-participates-sport-diplomacy-exchange-north-macedonia for two stories on our outbound and inbound experiences.
4 Here is the link to the U.S. Embassy Facebook post which described our visit. https://www. facebook.com/USEmbassySkopje/posts/pfbid0iAZgdUWk94xJWmVXtYA6UMP4AXHLjjBCt2vneYuBEVG7aNcTFQ3add7LH8b6AYRVl
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YVETTE PEÑA COOK
JENNIFER GARCIA
MARIA O’CONNOR
SUPPORTING TEEN MOTHERS THROUGH POLICY ADVOCACY 2
I had my daughter in the middle of my junior year. I started my senior year with an 8-month-old baby. I was juggling work and school and needed more money since I wasn’t getting financial support. About two months into my junior year I started skipping classes to go to work or to be with my daughter. I wanted to drop out of high school so I could start providing more for myself and my daughter. Through the support of my social worker, I graduated 5 months early but wasn’t able to go to college. Alexus, mother and graduate
This nation is profoundly unjust, unequal and inequitable, but I think that there’s a growing awareness about that…But I also feel like there’s a crisis of courage in the nation and all the way across the field of education. For the better part of my adult life, I’ve wanted to be the kind of educator, leader, community member, parent, friend, partner that found the courage to tell the truth and then sort out what that truth means.
Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade1
In Spring 2024 and as part of our Master of Education in School Leadership coursework, we worked on and completed a policy project with a broad focus on advocating for increased access to higher education.2 As we considered ways to narrow our focus, we ultimately decided to describe and address the challenges of providing academic support for teen moms. We made this decision as a group based
on the personal connection one of our group members, Jennifer, had as a young mother. She experienced the struggle of navigating higher education as a teen mom herself and now focuses on supporting other teen moms through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma. We collectively conducted our analysis on this significant issue that affects our school communities, wrote practical recommendations that we believe can make a difference in the lives of teen
moms, and presented our findings to policymakers and legislative staff. In San Antonio, higher levels of educational attainment translate to greater wages, despite differences in gender, age, or race/ethnicity (SA2020, 2023). Teen moms, in particular, face additional challenges as they navigate the school system as parents, often with a lack of support at home or with financial and emotional stressors. Because of these factors, only 20%
of teen moms nationwide graduate from high school, and less than 2% of teen moms finish a college degree by the time they are 30 years old (Shuger, 2012). While fertility rates for teens ages 15-19 have continued to decline nationwide, rates in Texas increased for the first time in 15 years, most likely due to recent abortion restrictions placed on women by the state of Texas. In Bexar County alone, there were 1,460 teen births (parents aged 10-19) in 2022. This averages to a baby born to a teen mom in Bexar County once every six hours (Bexar County Adolescent Health, 2023). The opening quote shared with us by Alexus, a 2018 high school graduate of a local San Antonio high school and teenage mother, is indicative of the experiences of
Teen moms, Valerie (left) and Alexus (right) proudly holding their children at their high school graduation ceremonies.
many teen mothers in our schools. As we traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with policymakers and present our research, her story is the one we carried with us as we advocated for access to higher education for these women. We met Alexus through Jennifer’s connections with Delta Kappa Gamma, and she agreed to share her story with the hope that other teen mothers could have more options than the ones that were available to her. As we listened, we heard how she lacked support at home to provide for her baby, and her education took a back seat to the necessity of financial stability. A school social worker helped provide motivation and connections to resources that enabled Alexus to complete her high school diploma. However, after high
school, she made the difficult choice to work full-time instead of continuing on to higher education. Currently, she continues to work and provide for her child. While Alexus ultimately persisted and completed her high school diploma despite the many challenges she faced, many young mothers across San Antonio face similar financial and personal challenges that keep academic success out of reach.
PREPARING FOR POLICY ADVOCACY
Knowing that our goal was to advocate for legislation in Washington D.C., we analyzed the Advanced Coursework Equity Act (H.R. 2765) with the consideration of how provisions in the bill could benefit teen moms. We interviewed school staff members who support teen moms in the school systems in addition to collecting qualitative data from mothers who were pregnant during high school, two of whom recorded statements to be used in our presentations with legislative staff. Drawing upon Jennifer’s prior experience as a teen mom, it was a vital aspect of our advocacy process to prioritize the stories of the individuals who would be directly impacted by this legislation. We quickly realized that what was more important than our own ideas or perspectives were the stories we collected from the individuals involved in helping teen moms go to college - the teachers and program directors who focus on the academic side of assisting moms as they finish high school; the social workers who provide support with resources and motivation to not give up; and, the moms themselves who detailed how financial struggles, alienation from family, and the stigma of being a teen parent did not stop them from wanting to achieve the best for their new families.
In all, we spoke with four participants and our qualitative interviews lasted between 30 and 50 minutes each. For each interview, we recorded the interview, took notes individually, and debriefed afterward to ensure a common understanding. We understand these stories as testimonios, what Pérez Huber (2009) describes as “a verbal journey of a witness who speaks to reveal the racial, classed, gendered, and nativist injustices they have suffered as a means of healing, empowerment, and advocacy for a more humane present and future” (p. 644). Utilizing this method enabled us to capture and center our participants’ stories and to humanize their experiences.
Another aspect of our method was to compile and analyze quantitative data.
We learned that pregnancy is listed as the number one reason for teenage girls to drop out of high school (Project Worth, 2012) and that despite declining rates nationwide, teen birth rates in Bexar County increased in 2022. Bexar County continues to have a rate that is higher than the national average (Healthy Futures of Texas, 2023). Yet, it was the stories that we collected that were the most powerful to share and that enabled us to hone in on the heart of the issue. Our participants helped us see what the numbers actually meant in practice and how policies impacted their daily lives. Valerie shared her story of beating the odds, graduating from high school, and moving on to community college. She shared how she was able to start earning college credits before she graduated from high school, saying “[it] gave me an opportunity to get a head start in my career which I’m grateful for as a mom because I want to have a stable career to support my son.” The picture she shared captures her proudly holding her son in her cap and gown at graduation, and speaks to how her story became a humanizing and purposeful focal point for our infographic.
Alexus also provided her example of how college is often denied to teen moms who do not have financial support from their families. She admitted, “I was juggling work and school and needed more money since I wasn’t getting the best financial support from my daughter’s bi-
ological father nor my family.” Her social worker was able to help her graduate high school when she came close to dropping out. However, she made the difficult decision not to attend college to have more time to work and bring money home for her and her child.
While we were privileged to travel to Washington D.C. to speak to policymakers about our projects with the weight of a university Master’s program on our side, it was critical that our advocacy also embody and leverage the power that we had to center the voices of our teen moms. Being able to advocate on behalf of the young women we talked to and all of the teen moms across the country truly drove home how important it is for educators to occasionally step out of the classroom and use their voices to enact change. This journey helped each of us to grow in our own leadership and demonstrated ways we can continue to fight for our students and broader school communities.
CONNECTING OUR LEADERSHIP TO OUR TESTIMONIOS
Maria’s Testimonio
The biggest thing I learned through this process is that anyone can be an advocate. Going into the start of the project, and even in the practice sessions leading up to our trip, I was struggling with not feeling like I was an expert on this issue. For nine years, I taught in an urban school in an area with a rich community culture, despite a history of redlining and generational poverty (Mendoza, 2022). I had experience fighting for my students to have the best opportunities. However, I had internal doubts about talking to individuals who I considered to be policy experts. I remember thinking, “These are people that deal with policy all day, every day. They’re going to have questions that I can’t answer. Why would they even listen to us?” However, once we started getting into the work and talking about our project to others, I realized that it wasn’t about having all the answers; it was just about starting the conversation and bringing awareness to an important issue in our community. I was simply the one with the power to push forward the narrative at that moment. This process gave me the courage to speak up in my current setting as a PhD student studying educational leadership. I am better able to challenge misconceptions or deficit mindsets in my colleagues (Valencia & Solórzano, 2012). As I further develop my own research and continue to advocate for issues affecting oppressed communities, I aim to remember the power of uplifting testimonios from those who are most affected.
Yvette’s Testimonio
As the Professional Development School Coordinator for Trinity University and North East ISD, I work closely with future teachers - undergraduate students who are exploring teaching as a possible career field, and Master of Arts in Teaching students who are actively interning in classrooms at our Professional Development School sites. During my own time as a high school English teacher, I often found myself questioning the power I had to influence the policy that affected my students, my classroom, and my community. Now, I see my students having the same conversations about their own ability to navigate an intentionally complicated political landscape. This experience highlighted the unique power and expertise school leaders, teachers, and students bring to the education policy conversation (Community Organizing and Family Issues, 2021; Jeffrey & Bograd, 2021). Policy often feels enacted without a true understanding of how that policy will affect schools in practice, and there seems to be a stark disconnect that exists when policymakers lack teaching experience. The experiences educators carry with us and the student stories we highlight are important tools for advocacy. Testimonios about our students, our teaching, and our schools, help bring to life the impacts policy has on our communities. It is our role as school leaders to help teachers recognize the power they have to influence policy and build policy literacy as we move forward toward policy change.
Peña Cook, Maria O’Connor, Terri Neuman, Leadership Coach, and Jennifer Garcia (from left to right), amongst the tulips outside the Hart Senate Office Building after a meeting in Washington D.C.
Jennifer’s Testimonio
In my new role as an educational leader, I focused on a policy issue close to my heart, an issue that could support teenage mothers and improve their educational pathways despite their challenges. This project allowed me to reflect on my role as advocate and to address an area that I was very familiar with - helping young mothers overcome systemic barriers to succeed academically and personally. My own story gave me valuable insights into the struggles and triumphs of balancing motherhood and education, and my role as educator enabled me to apply my expertise from the classroom. This personal and professional connection has fueled my passion for advocating for better support systems and resources that can help teenage mothers succeed academically and personally. I began this project by researching existing policies and identifying gaps in support for teenage mothers, engaging with stakeholders like students, educators, and community organizations to shape my advocacy efforts. Their perspectives helped us to pinpoint key areas for improvement. Building partnerships with organizations dedicated to supporting teenage mothers is a critical step for school leaders. These collaborations can provide resources like mentorship, childcare, and academic assistance, aiming to create a supportive environment for young mothers. Raising awareness through workshops and events should also be a priority, aiming to challenge stereotypes and promote a more inclusive educational system. By showcasing the resilience of teenage mothers, I hope that our project can inspire teachers and student leaders to get involved. Ultimately, this journey I have been on has deepened my commitment to creating change. Every young mother deserves the opportunity to achieve her dreams and to build a brighter future for herself and her child.
Yvette
MAINTAINING CRITICAL HOPE WHILE ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE
During our time in D.C., we met with staff members from six separate legislative offices across both the House and the Senate in an effort to garner support for the Advanced Coursework Equity Act and the PROSPECT Act (S. 848). We left our infographic for two other legislators who were unable to meet with us at the time. In each meeting, we centered the stories of Alexus and Valerie. We also remembered the perspectives of everyone we talked to who was involved in helping teen moms graduate from high school and pursue higher education. Even in meetings with individuals who were not politically aligned with these bills, we were encouraged by their willingness to have an open dialogue about our topic. It gave us hope to know that we were planting seeds for legislators to remember the stories we carried as they made decisions on the bills we were promoting. Alexus and Valerie inspired us to continue the tradition of testimonio, telling our own stories to counter the dominant narrative in spaces where we previously would have remained silent. After this experience, we are more empowered as leaders to speak up and to advocate for equity and access in everyday situations. Throughout this process, we learned that for many
students, college is an unattainable dream (SA2020, 2024). For us, this project was our little part in working to dismantle some of the barriers that keep teen moms from achieving that dream.
In his work, Duncan-Andrade (2009) references a poem by Tupac Shakur that speaks of how roses can grow through the cracks in the concrete. The concrete represents the structural inequality and institutional racism that can keep many students of color and teen moms from succeeding academically. “Each time we convey this—the true value of the painful path—we are building critical hope in the person next to us who wonders if they, too, can make it through the crack” (p. 192). Ultimately, critical hope is not just a feeling but a driving force that pushes us to overcome adversity and pursue our aspirations, and to persist just as roses that can grow in the cracks of the concrete. DuncanAndrade (2009) describes critical hope as demanding a “critical and active struggle” (p. 185). When we consider the barriers that teen moms face and reflect on the communal advocacy process, we see how “hope demands that we reconnect to the collective by struggling alongside one another, sharing in the victories and the pain” (p. 187). We acknowledge that even the strongest advocacy efforts will not alleviate all of the challenges faced by
ENDNOTES
our school communities, but it is the love and passion we pour into our endeavors that light the way, even in the darkest of times. And it is this unyielding hope that will continue to guide us as we strive to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.
At this moment in time, we sustain our critical hope by knowing there are other people out there also fighting the fight. Whether it’s a colleague dedicating themselves to making a difference in their community, or a student overcoming personal obstacles to achieve their goals, these stories of resilience and commitment inspire us daily. They remind us that, despite the difficulties we may face, our collective efforts can lead to significant, positive change and encourage our belief that if we keep fighting, one day, changes will come. Systemic change might not be immediate, and might not be on a large scale, but if we have the courage to uplift the stories of silenced voices we can enact change one student, one campus, and one community at a time.
1 As told in the Forthcoming Educational Leadership Anthology (Anindya Kundu, 2025).
2 The authors thank Valerie and Alexus for sharing their stories and photos with us, and the many individuals who gave us insights into the resources that exist for supporting teen moms including, Lisa Delgado, coordinator for the Northside ISD school-age parenting program, Julie Slothower, Teen Parenting teacher for Southwest ISD, and Dr. Patty Escobedo, former Executive Director Pupil Services at Southwest ISD and current adjunct Trinity professor. We also thank Drs. Alemán and Aguilera for making this experience possible, Morgan Craven, from IDRA, for her guidance in preparing for our legislative meetings, Dr. Lisa Knecht and Lisa Chavez for their overall support. Lastly, we thank our leadership coach, Terri Neuman, for bringing us together and nurturing our growth.
REFERENCES
Community Organizing and Family Issues. (2021). The COFI way: Policy and systems change. https://cofionline.org/COFI/ wp-content/uploads/2014/09/The-COFI-Way-Policy-Report-web.pdf
Duncan-Andrade, J. (2009). Note to educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete. Harvard Educational Review, 79(2), 181-194.
Healthy Futures of Texas. (2023). Bexar County Adolescent Health. https://hftx.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2022-Bexar-County-Adolescent-Health.pdf
Jeffrey, A. & Bograd, S. (2021). How students can help build better education policy. Washington D.C.: Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/students-can-help-build-better-education-policy/ Mendoza, M. (2022, April 12). ‘Tentacles’ of redlining continue to grip upward mobility in San Antonio. MySanAntonio.com. https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/redlining-in-san-antonio-17007447.php
Pérez Huber, L. (2009). Disrupting apartheid of knowledge: Testimonio as methodology in Latina/o critical race research in education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(6), 639-654.
Project Worth. (2012). Teen Pregnancy in Bexar County. City of San Antonio. https://www.sanantonio.gov/Portals/0/Files/ health/HealthyLiving/TeenHealth/FactSheet-Teen.pdf
SA2020. (2024). 2024 Data Snapshot. https://sa2020.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SA2020-Community-Indicators-and-Results-2024.pdf
Having an impromptu meeting with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are (from left to right), Dr. Enrique Alemán, Jr., Dr. Patty Escobedo, Dr. Vangie Aguilera, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Yvette Peña Cook, Maria O’Connor, Jennifer Garcia, and Terri Neuman.
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Members of the team waiting to present to legislative staff in the Rayburn House Building.
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VOICES FROM THE FIELD
MELISSA HOLGUIN
UNRAVELING LATINA LEADERSHIP:
FINDING MY AUTHENTIC VOICE, COMBATTING IMPOSTER SYNDROME
“Be a good girl!” I yell out to my 11 year old daughter, Lola, as I drop her off at school. Why do I say this? I do not find myself telling my son the same thing. For years I have told him, forcefully and confidently, “Do your best and forget the rest!” This may seem trivial, but the daily messaging and habits really do permeate the psyche of our girls, and more specifically, our Latinas. Families hone cultural practices that impact their children’s development. More specifically, Latino families create meaningful learning experiences with their children through their identities revolving around language, literacy, and cultural ways of being (Beltran-Grim, 2022). This has a tremendous impact on the academic achievement of students and the subsequent inequities that exist for them as professionals in the educational arena, shifting power dynamics concerning ethnicity and gender.
Much of my work as an academic and educational leader has focused on the mentorship of Latina school leaders.
While this is both important and effective when organized intentionally, I have only just realized that I have largely been reactive. When I reflect on my journey, I think about myself at age 46 and all of the lessons I have had to unlearn - all of the programming I was inadvertently taught in a progressive, and albeit, supportive Latino household led by two college educated parents. My head has been filled with a tremendous amount of limited self-talk for years which I have had to consciously label, unravel, and reframe. This unfolding has involved a lot of awareness work that I have purposefully undertaken. Yet I find myself conditioning my daughter in much the same way that I was conditioned. She is strong and I, unknowingly, have tried to tame her. As author Glennon Doyle (2020) described in her book, “Untamed,” my daughter is a “goddamn cheetah” and I am cultivating a house cat.
ASSIMILATION
AND PRESCRIBED IDENTITY
What can be done to counteract the actions that may disadvantage or discourage young Latina women? From my perspective, I have had to consider my childhood and my lived experiences. As the youngest daughter of two Latino educated social workers and the youngest of three girls, I was raised in an “inner-city” neighborhood in San Antonio. I clearly remember how the highly divisive Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings centered on sexual harassment and recall how a middle school male, African-American teacher proclaimed, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!” This left me furious and enraged, yet, I made myself small and said nothing, out of respect for my teacher. I was a hyperachieving straight A student, and the valedictorian of my high school class who was taught to be a teacher pleaser and rule follower. My high school counselor had high hopes for my scholarship and college acceptance totals and I felt pressure to
perform and outshine my older sister, who was the salutatorian of her high school class and, ultimately, was admitted to Princeton University. I allowed my plans to attend Columbia University, where I was accepted and offered a scholarship, to be derailed by an abusive and narcissistic boyfriend. Learning early in my life that love was not safe, this marked the beginning of my silence, the caging of my inner cheetah. As I returned from a trip to the campus in New York City, I was shocked and homesick, and cried the entire week that I was away. Upon returning home from this campus visit, I immediately considered other universities that I could attend, preferably a place closest to home. I was not ready to embark on such an independent journey, and I let fear get the best of me. Even then, I hadn’t realized that I was perpetuating what some have experienced as the common trappings of young Latinas, overpowered by a male figure and making life decisions, such as selecting a college based on fear (Martinez, 2013).
THE INFLUENCE OF MESSAGING AND LANGUAGE
In my experience, conditioning began at a very early age. I was taught to please and do what I was told, prodded to follow the rules and conform to society’s standards. I was told to respect my family, the educational system, and entrust my teachers and administrators as the holders of the keys to my success. Their words were gold to me. Martinez, Rivera & Marquez (2019) describes this phenomenon when she shares the moment a grandmother tells a study participant that she needs to “marry up in race” (p. 482). As I see it, this example lies at the root of the problem. In her study, the Latina school administrators state that young students could have benefited from role models, mentorship, and pipelines, but this support needed to start much earlier for young girls when conditioning begins (Martinez, 2019). This grandmother’s statement was so impactful that the study participant, now a stronger adult woman, made the point to recall this moment and include it as justification for the selection of her life partner.
If we as educators can shift or re-
frame the narrative that many Latinas hear growing up, by loved ones and educators, to one that utilizes positive and affirming language of self-empowerment and selflove, then girls can grow up believing there is no ceiling and that finding “the one” means finding themselves. For Latinas, this continuous taming is perpetuated by gender roles and expectations, particularly in motherhood, such as taking on the majority of household chores, waiting our turn, constantly apologizing (even when it is unnecessary), and not talking back (Martinez et al., 2019). “Con respecto” is a common phrase and synonymous for knowing your place in the world. Families employ the following cultural values for childrearing in relation to the child’s education: respeto (cultural duty and obligation), consejos (ethical and aspirational education development), apoyo (childrearing support for education development), and sacrificios (selfselected sacrifices Latino parents make to support their children’s education (Murphey et al., 2014). While these values are typically viewed as assets, without balance and awareness, they can be stifling and responsible for our selfabandonment. I relate this to the way Doyle (2020) describes it: “We do not need any more selfless women. What we need right now are more women who are full of themselves. A woman who is full of only herself no longer internalizes the world’s expectations or memos” (p. 75).
With the type of conditioning that I and many others have received by adolescence, we become fully entrenched in a prescribed identity and learn to not disrupt the status quo. This is when we are taught to be what the world wants for us. It is the end goal of patriarchy to begin to lose oneself, only to be forced to attempt to find ourselves much later in life, if we are lucky. Part of our “taming” taught us to bury our true selves. When a woman acts as a martyr, described as “selfless,” this is considered the highest praise. “The epitome of womanhood is to lose one’s self completely…because a very effective way to control women is to convince women to control themselves” (Doyle, 2020, p. 116). This is also a very effective way to gain power. In referencing beauty standards alone, we can become consumed with satisfying the male gaze
associated with the expected ways to look, comparing ourselves to false images and chasing an impossible reality for the whole of our lives, even more pronounced with the infiltration of social media platforms that have hypnotized our youth.
FENDING OFF IMPOSTER SYNDROME
On an emotional level, I was taught to reign in my anger. It was not acceptable to yell, curse, or show intense emotions. Instead, I was left to weaken myself by keeping my feelings and my authentic voice inside, tucking it into my spanx so tightly so as to allow these emotions to fester and become molded over and poison my very being. On the other hand, I’ve witnessed how boys are reinforced with the idea that “boys will be boys.” I have been told, “Just let them, Melissa. They are just being boys.” As a girl, I quickly learned to retreat into my room, under the covers, and cry into my pillow. I still do to this day as a habit when I don’t remind myself that it will feel much better to punch the heavy bag or lift heavy weights. Not very ladylike, I guess. This display of emotions leads to men who are selected and deemed more qualified to control organizations because they are viewed as possessing the attributes believed to be required for success in these positions. Women are subject to bias due to prescribed group stereotypes and are penalized for “positive” attributes such as “warmth and niceness,” and even associated with women who do not inherently possess these feminine stereotypical traits (Heilman & Eagly, 2015). This programming and early experiences have impacted my leadership identity as a Latina ascending into school administration roles early in my career, manifesting themselves as the need to acclimate, to be validated by others through high levels of achievement and performance, and to yearn for affirmation rather than embracing my unique gifts and authentic self. In my career and in my personal life, I abandoned myself in the pursuit of this need for attention and validation so that I fit in rather than stand out.
It has taken much time and personal effort but in my current leadership role, my knowledge and unraveling has led to
(Top Left) Melissa and her daughter, Lola.
(Top Right) Melissa at Trinity University’s Fall 2023 School Leader Seminar Series panel on Financial Resources.
(Bottom) Melissa reviewing school finance data in her current school leadership role.
the awareness of my thoughts and the need to shift my beliefs. When I enter a room of colleagues who are mostly White males, and the hint of imposter syndrome begins to creep in, I encourage my mind to envision a woman who is strong and confident in her stance. I expose the lies that I have been told in my personal and professional life, affirming that I am deserving, intelligent, and capable. I can now discern when my voice needs to be heard, especially when it is in the minority of a powerful room of decision makers. I select my thoughts with careful prowess, just like the cheetah evaluating her prey prior to the attack, pacing the perimeter. And, yet, even though it is not my first instinct to speak up, I realize that I represent all those who do not have access in this room, and I speak as the girl who grew up on Pasadena Street in urban San Antonio who needs that woman in that room to represent her perspective. Mendez-Morse, Murakami, Byrne-Jiménez and Hernandez (2015) found in their study of educational leaders that Latinas often choose the administrative routes by limiting their choices to the elementary school principal role. They found that Latina leaders rarely are considered suitable candidates for high school principalships and that they are not considered viable options for the superintendency because they have a perceived lack of proficiency in school finance and budgeting skills. Now, I am proud to say that I have held both the secondary administrative role and currently work, and am thriving, in the school finance sector of a public school district. I take pleasure in defying those odds and understand the responsibility of the role I play in this seat.
As the federal grants administration of my school district, I am passionate about equity and securing resources for our students in underserved communities. It is important to note that this work is not just reserved for roles in curriculum and instruction, a focus area for female administrators partly due to the lack of mentors (Mendez-Morse, 2004). In her earlier work, Mendez-Morse (2004) cites that her study participants’ values containing cultural and communityminded assets contribute to the success these Latina school leaders experienced in their roles in instructional leadership.
Yet these assets, such as the shared desire to make a difference in the education of children of color, can and should also translate to other high level school district positions. More needs to be done about this ceiling that exists at the elementary principal level wherein our talented Latinas feel they are relegated to curriculum and instruction with limited pipelines in finance, operations, and ultimately, the superintendency. I’ve led secondary campuses and I deliberately pivoted to the finance side of the school district, working directly with our chief financial officer to learn every facet of school finance. Additionally, as the district lead on federal grants, I have had to learn about other “male-dominated” sides of district operations such as safety, facilities, and transportation. At this stage of my career, I want to be in a room that has been historically dominated by males and to represent Latinas. It is important that women, and Latina girls in particular, have mentors and see role models in these roles, and that we not settle for breadcrumbs in terms of career options. Because I do not want to skirt by with an adequate amount of knowledge, I have sought additional preparation and development that will allow me to speak in the most informed way, with authority. This example can hopefully inform and speak to little girls and young women who have not yet found their voices. Living and modeling my most authentic self as an example for Latinas in these nontraditional positions must become common-place so that I am not the only Latina in the meeting rooms that I currently occupy.
REDEFINING GENDER ROLES
When I reflect about my upbringing and early career, I sometimes think I am making up for my teenage “failure” of going the more traditional route to educational leadership cited in Martinez’s (2013) college choice study. I have intentionally gone against the norm in my older age to make decisions with my more confident self. Yet, this is not a selfish pursuit. As a mother of two girls and a mentor to other women, I know this is a larger moral imperative, especially when leaders often consider their mother as their first, and strongest, mentor (Mendez-Morse, 2004). Mentoring Latinas in professional positions revolve around the stories
they have told themselves, self-imposed, family dictated, and reinforced by society. The job of transformation becomes an awareness first and an unraveling second. For our girls, they watch and they learn by seeing. Yet, in our regressive and oppressive political landscape, they need to see new narratives from educators, family members, community leaders, and most of all, from themselves. In examining the inequitable statistics reported in journals and academic publications, it is evident that negative, self-limiting beliefs are continuously imprinting into the minds and spirits of Latinas. Just prior to publishing this piece on one of our drives to school, Lola stated, “Mommy, my social studies teacher doesn’t like me. She says I ask too many questions. She sat me away from everyone, in the corner, but it’s okay…I like being alone.” My response was, “No! Keep asking your questions! And it’s not okay. Just keep shining your light.” This is the typical messaging that permeates our schools and this is what many are telling Latinas. It is this type of real world example that we must begin to banish from our institutions of learning. On the contrary, when my daughter Lola is being loud, powerful, and firm in her convictions, I force myself to think, “Wow, she’s strong. She is a natural leader,” rather than instinctually shrinking her into something she is as her social studies teacher might prefer. Conversely, my son, Michael, has a poet’s soul and I have to keep reminding myself to positively reinforce the emotions he shows, from the affection to the tears he is allowed to shed. I have noticed as he is growing into a young man that he is beginning to adhere to the social cues and become “tough,” especially in front of his father and his peers. I watch carefully and encourage him to fully feel.
The irony of all of this is that we follow our social conditioning until we become adults. Perhaps we should take a college class or engage in learning that will allow us to find our voice, or maybe we should be designing mentor programs that can bridge the racial and gender gaps and inequities in our respective organizations. Maybe it is both. When I wonder why these negative gender gap statistics exist, and spend hours of my own time researching these prescient topics, I wonder if we are starting too
late with young people. Are we losing too many talents to the world by adolescence? Why must we begin the work in adulthood when alternatively, we could start with our young people as they enter the world with their eyes wide open, fully stepping into their power as developing adolescents?
We must begin to release our gender roles and provide permission to express certain traits rather than abiding by an antiquated status quo. As educators, we have the power to begin to unravel this system and to notice the varied ways in which we raise our girls and boys. In Martinez’s (2013) study of the college choices that Latinos make, she uses the term “familismo” to describe the important influence that family plays in the decisions young people make in choosing a college. This “in-group trust” and collectivism “lends itself to greater conformity and the ability to be readily influenced by others” (Martinez, 2013). Combined with the consejos we hold as cultural funds of knowledge, the ability to influence and impact is readily available. Just recently, my regional colleagues and I have formed the Alamo-Area chapter of the Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (TALAS). Our aim is to support all of our school administrators via mentoring structures, dialogue, and creating an intentional community of professionals who work together with a collective voice to advocate in our desire to change the trajectory of our Latino students. These are two examples of what singer/songwriter Alicia Keys states, “The more voices, the more powerful the sound.”
As educational leaders, we can also make headway by pointing out strong women to our girls and boys alike while emphasizing to our boys that it takes strength to be empathetic, compassionate, and loving so they are free to be true to themselves. “It is because of this continual societal expectation for women to be primarily responsible for the home and family—and the limited participation of men in assuming household work—that women school leaders end up having to balance home and work needs, a burden that male principals seldom need to shoulder” (Mendez-Morse et al., 2015, p. 174). We must stop unnecessarily apologizing for things we are not responsible for. My son, for example,
is being explicitly taught to respect the women and girls in his life and live his life without terms and conditions.
A CALL TO ACTION
My intention in sharing this reflection was not only to impart my experiences, but to provide an example of my roadmap for those on their own journey to school leadership. My larger goal is to help others develop a true self-belief and self-love in themselves, particularly for Latinas. Sadly, the participants in Mendez-Morse’s (2004) study did not consider themselves to be leaders perhaps because they did not view themselves as worthy of leading. Recognizing that many of us have been conditioned to consistently carry out these described restrictions as girls, we must confront and challenge what has been embedded in us subconsciously. It is also incumbent on us, as educators, parents, and community members, to understand the influence we have on Latino children, who are projected to comprise nearly one-third of children in the U.S. (Lopez, Krogstad, & Flores, 2018).
Latina educators and school leaders must be able to view their personal lived experiences as assets, using their language, cultural connections, and sense of community building to impact other areas of the school leaders that are not traditionally occupied by women of color. There are organizations that develop viable pipelines and effective mentor structures. TALAS is just one organization that offers spaces for professional growth, and affiliate groups are growing rapidly led by a strong group of bold Latinas who I am honored to work alongside of.
Also, within that group are allies composed of men who act as mentors and utilize their agency to sponsor and hold space for their Latina colleagues. We need more men to stand up for and support Latinas at work and in the home. I have been fortunate enough to have a nurturing father, who still is my biggest supporter, along with children and a support system of individuals who push me to face my fears and remove my self-doubt. It is my hope to raise my son to cherish and honor his Latina sisters and his community of women that surround him, using his privilege for a positive purpose. Additionally, as a collective structure
of family, school, and community, the studies cited in this article have demonstrated the power that educational institutions have in the continued conditioning of Latinas. The gendernormed messaging, the patriarchal consejos that are often passed down (i.e., “you aren’t good at math,” “STEM is for boys,” “they never hire women in that role,” “you need to fit in and be an athletic coach to be promoted at the secondary level,” etc.) must be challenged and reframed in our psyche, and replaced with asset-based and empowering statements (i.e., “you can learn any subject you put effort into,” “there are many opportunities for women and STEM,” “why not be the first,” “your gifts are needed in this position”). Sometimes, it takes others to believe in you prior to believing in yourself. This is the magic of mentorship. Finally, and most importantly, the work begins with oneself. The process of unraveling is not always easy or comfortable. Realizing that there are years of beliefs that may have taken hold in your mind, catching each statement, and explicitly replacing it with an affirmation of ability and strength can be empowering and life-changing. It is in this space that one can move out of self-doubt and move toward an awareness and affirmation that you have the ability to recreate your reality and find your voice again so that you are never again silenced. This is the undertaking of becoming all of who one was meant to be. Re-conditioning thoughts can lead to changes in words and actions so that when you speak to another little girl, you can boldly declare to her to be unafraid, strong, forceful, wild, and her best…but never again, “good.”
The Alamo Area TALAS chapter recently formed with the work of the committee pictured on February 26, 2025 from left to right: Dr. Destiny Barrera, Director of Talent Management at Judson ISD; Dr. Maria Elena Meza, Director of State and Federal Programs at Northside ISD; Dr. Venus Vela, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction at Pleasanton ISD; Theresa Salinas, Chief of Staff at Edgewood ISD; Keynote Speaker Dr. Eduardo Hernandez, Superintendent of Schools at Edgewood ISD; Dr. Celina Estrada-Thomas, TALAS Executive Director.
ENDNOTE
1 A quote from her 2025 Grammy acceptance speech
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