The International Admissions and Enrollment Office (IAE) Earns Two Major Awards
On the left, Norca Yarborough, team leader of the IAE EML therapeutic counselors, and Margarita Bohórquez, IAE Director, accept the Betty Humphrey Equity Champion Award. On the right, Norka Padilla with the Change Maker Award.
The IAE’s Emergent Multilingual Learners (EML) therapeutic counseling team received the Betty Humphrey Equity Champion Award during Mental Health America’s national conference.
The Equity Champion Award is given to an individual or organization for demonstrating an ongoing commitment to the fight for diversity, equity and inclusion. It recognizes those who advance the intersectionality of mental health as it relates to discrimination, poverty, stigma, racism, and overall social and economic determinants of health.
The MCPS EML therapeutic counseling program supports students in prekindergarten through 12th grade from a cross-cultural perspective, so they can succeed academically and adjust to a new social and cultural environment while staying meaningfully connected to their own cultures.
The award was accepted by team leader Norca Yarborough. The EML therapeutic counselors are: Victoria Alvarado, Nazareth Aregai, Leocadie Bader, Rina Chaves, Daycris I. Cornelio Contreras, Yury Delgado, Zahra Dorranian, Elisabeth Fisher, Lorena Gonzalez Matos, Tamar Hill, Tekshia Innocent, Thomas Le, Joy Lee, Walter Marroquin, Elizabeth Miguel, Evelyn Montecinos, Monica Pimienta, Lisa Ratta, Jocelyn Reyes-Escobar, Marvin Rivas-Perez, Ana Rivas, Maya Vakas, Monica Valencia, Ashley Vergara, Esther Wei and Girma Yeshanew.
Norka Padilla, coordinator in IAE, received the University of Maryland Change Maker Award. Padilla, who has worked in MCPS for more than 27 years, was honored for work that has "changed the conversation" in education in the pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion. The award recognizes Maryland alumni who have done work that has served or focused on historically marginalized populations and offered new perspectives, broken away from traditional understandings, or created notable change in experiences and outcomes.