While attending the University of Southern California, Jessica had her first experience in the classroom. Jessica worked with students at an inner city school in Los Angeles through USC's Joint Educational Project, one of the oldest and largest service-learning programs in the United States.

Jessica earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Immediately after graduating, Jessica was recruited to teach with The New Teacher Project. TNTP is a national nonprofit organization that works to end the injustice of educational inequality by partnering with economically disadvantaged school districts. Jessica began teaching middle school English at a Title I school in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jessica began teaching high school English. In this capacity, she worked with students of all abilities, including SPED, ESL, and GT populations.

Jessica also began teaching AVID this year. AVID is a national college readiness program that impacts first generation college students, working toward the organizational mission to close the opportunity gap. The program provides college admissions counseling to economically disadvantaged students.

Jessica graduated summa cum laude with honors from Johns Hopkins University with her Master of Education Degree in Secondary Education.

She was selected as the 2018 Commencement Speaker, and her speech was centered around the impact her students had on her. Her students were present to support her in the audience.

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Jessica was awarded the Johns Hopkins Excellence Award by the Dean of the School of Education at JHU for her passion and dedication to academia and the field of education.

Jessica was selected as the head of the AVID program on her high school campus. As the AVID Site Coordinator, Jessica supported almost 300 students simultaneously in all aspects of the college admissions process beginning in their freshman year of high school. 100% of Jessica's students were accepted to college each year, and each cohort was awarded millions of dollars in scholarships under her leadership.

Additionally, in this role, Jessica routinely created, facilitated, and evaluated district- and campus-wide professional development seminars for teachers in various areas including college and career readiness, pedagogy and instruction, literacy, and cultural responsiveness. 

Jessica began mentoring aspiring teachers through a university Alternative Teacher License and Master's Degree program. In this role, Jessica mentors 30+ teacher candidates each year who are working in various grade levels and content areas across the state.

Jessica graduated summa cum laude with her Doctorate in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt University. Jessica's doctoral research explored program retention and attrition for a college readiness program utilizing a mixed methods study design.

Jessica's doctoral research is titled Assessing Course Experiences: Understanding Attrition and Retention Within the Boswell High School AVID Program and can be accessed on the Vanderbilt University Institutional Repository.

Jessica began her work as a college professor, teaching undergraduate and graduate-level courses in the education field. The courses she has designed and taught include Classroom Management; Curriculum, Planning, Assessment, and Evaluation; Effective Teaching II; Orientation to the Profession; Classroom Management; Seminar/Internship I; and Seminar/Internship II.