Seven outstanding graduate students at the University of Georgia have been awarded assistantships through The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Scholars Fund. These recipients have excellent breadth and depth of experience in Latino educational issues and are committed to helping further CLASE’s mission at UGA and across the state.
Carissa Balderas has been involved in research for Latino families and youth since 2007. Her clinical and research interests include resilience within minority populations and academic and vocational development for Latino youth. She is lead investigator for a qualitative study examining parent-child communication patterns within Latino families living with the stress of undocumented immigration status. Carissa earned her M.Ed. from the University of Oregon and is currently enrolled as a graduate student in the Counseling Psychology program in the College of Education.
Cristalis Capielo is a Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology Program in the College of Education. Her research focuses on issues of multiculturalism and how race and ethnicity affect the health of Latino/a’s. She is a a member of the DREAM research team and is currently involved in a research project looking at the relationship between acculturation, acculturative stress, coping and self-reported depression among Central Florida Puerto Ricans. She has volunteered with El Buen Pastor and Oasis Católico Santa Rafaela in the Athens area.
Brad Dinardo will graduatef with his M.Ed. in TESOL from the Language and Literacy Education Department in the College of Education in December 2012. He taught EFL in Costa Rica for 2 years and has taught at the Latin American Association in Atlanta. Brad spent two-and-a-half years teaching English for Academic Purposes at the ELS Language Centers in Marietta. His interests include bilingual and adult education and plans to teach abroad (South America) upon finishing his degree. Brad will continue working with CLASE Spring semester.
William Mira is a M.A./Ph.D. student in educational psychology in the Applied Cognition and Development program. Of Salvadoran descent, William’s research interests include exploring the factors that influence the overall efficacy of tutoring/mentoring programs, specifically for Latino youth. William received a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Anthropology and is currently helping to coordinate the CLASE tutoring program at Whitehead Elementary.
Cecilia Rivas received a BA in Psychology and is currently earning her Master’s degree in Professional Counseling. Ceci joined the CLASE family in Spring of 2012 and became an official Goizueta Graduate Scholar in Fall 2012. Cecilia is of Cuban descent and was raised in a primarily Spanish speaking family. She spent five months in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico during her undergraduate studies and has experience working with two programs with the Hispanic oriented non-profit organization, enFamilia, Inc. Among her many tasks, Ceci works as an assistant coordinator with CLASE’s tutoring program.
Christina Simmons received her B.A. in psychology and Spanish from Syracuse University. Christina became interested in autism after working one-on-one with a nonverbal teenager with autism to build her communication skills. She also interned in recreation services for children with autism spectrum disorders where she experienced facilitated communication, autism guide dogs, and modified sign language. After graduation, Christina spent a year in Spain on a Fulbright Scholarship teaching English in a bilingual high school and researching services for autism and teacher attitudes towards inclusion.
Renee Wetli joined CLASE in Spring 2013. She is currently earning her Master of Public Administration, specializing in nonprofit administration. Renee holds an A.B. degree with majors in Linguistics and Spanish. She has worked in the community volunteering for the Economic Justice Coalition, Nuci’s Space, and working as a community development intern with Fundación Runa in the Napo province of Ecuador, where she co-authored a grant proposal to fund a workshop on farming techniques for communities.
Jessica Wilder is pursuing her M.Ed. in Professional Counseling. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Spanish Language and Culture and Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina. She spent a semester studying at la Universidad de Granada and in her junior year at USC, she was awarded a Magellan research grant. Jessica is the recipient of several awards and honors. Her long-term goal is to pursue a career that promotes the educational success of Latino children and adolescents.