While her career has been filled with standout moments, Ms. Alejos is most proud of her educational play "Harvest of Dreams" and finishing college in three years instead of four.
EDINBURG, TX, October 13, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Diana Elsa Alejos has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Upon graduating from Sharyland High School in 1975, Mrs. Alejos earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Spanish and Sociology, a minor in English, an endorsement to teach learning disabled children PK-12 grades and a secondary teacher-certification, all in 3 years after graduating from high school. She was involved very much in politics during her college or university years and joined clubs and organizations. She was nominated toWho's Who Among Colleges and Universities. She obtained a master's in education in the area of Guidance and Counseling in 1980 and went on to obtain a Mid-management in Administration in Principalship in 1995. Subsequently, she taught English to non-English Speaking students through the English Language Institute (ELI) at Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas and also taught Spanish and Education courses through Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas graduate assistantship program. After that, Mrs. Alejos taught at South Texas I.S.D. - an all-special education school, where her classroom management program was used as the model to plan the all-school-wide behavior management program from 1980 through 1992. She remained a teacher at South Texas I.S.D., because she loved working with special needs children and was the first and only teacher to not only receive, but to also serve in the teacher-selection-committee for the selection of the following year's Career Ladder Stipend Program through the South Texas I.S.D. School Board. Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Special Education Program asked Mrs. Alejos to work for them and twice, she declined. It was the third time that she decided to accept to do an interview and she was hired as a Special Education Counselor and served 7 campuses plus accepted to put out the District's Special Education Newsletter to an audience of 2700 readers. She was the photographer, editor and publisher of the Edinburg C.I.S.D. - Special Education Newsletter. She also did numerous teacher and para-professional trainings on behavior management, stress management and behavior modification for Edinburg C.I.S.D. special education department. She was then hired as a Crisis Counselor for Edinburg C.LS.D. after the Special Education Counseling Program was dismantled in 1995. Then in 1996, she was assigned the title of At-Risk Counselor. She offered parent trainings and organized several lock-ins for high at-risk students. She became an Academic high school Counselor in 1997 and took on the leadership role of Head Counselor at Edinburg High School before moving to help open the new high school, Johnny G. Economedes High in 2000.
Mrs. Alejos was part of a mixed team of counselors that would help put the school on the map. Mrs. Alejos noticed that the concurrent enrollment program, called the University Scholars Program was not being successful at Johnny G. Economedes High School. The first 2 years there were 2 students who were in the program both had failed their concurrent enrollment classes at the university, and she asked the counseling staff and the principal if they would not mind her taking over. She helped 23 students, including her own daughter, in her first year doing the program to obtain 4 years of college-paid free tuition in 2003, and in 2004 she helped another 22 students. She would collect the fees for the courses from the parents and submit the funds to the bookkeeper. She would help the students pick the courses and the professors they would take and then make time on Saturdays to meet with the students at the University of Texas-Pan American to teach them how to make "A's." She helped the registrar's clerk identify the courses so that students received high school credits on their transcripts for the concurrent enrollment courses they received credit for at the university. Mrs. Alejos set the bar for success at Johnny G. Economedes for the concurrent enrollment University Scholars Program. She also enrolled the youngest student from Johnny G. Economedes High School into the University Scholars Program, advocating for the student after being told that the student could not participate due to her age and grade level. Mrs. Alejos presented detailed information about the student including her test scores that showed she was a good candidate for the University Scholars Program. She provided a Texas Education Agency response to her inquiry that would allow the student the opportunity to enroll in the program. The student went on to get all A's in all her college courses. This student is currently an Immigration Attorney who, to this day, is grateful for Mrs. Alejos' intervention.
Mrs. Alejos went on to become a migrant counselor in 2005. Since then, she has worked with her students on a one-to one basis to ensure that all her migrant students are on-track for graduation. Of the four high schools in the Edinburg School District, Johnny G. Economedes has always had the highest number of migrant students since the school opened in 2000-2001. Mrs. Alejos has parent meetings and offers students who are struggling credit recovery opportunities. Additionally, Mrs. Alejos organizes, plans, and coordinates activities for the school's 200 plus migrant students through the Sky's the Limit Migrant Club, which is known nationwide for its inclusion of non-migrant student participation and for the most migrant students nominated to receive the Albert Lee Wright, Jr. Memorial Scholarship. All of her students have been the product of Sky's the Limit Migrant Club. Mrs. Alejos, through coordinated efforts with a local organization, Migrants in Action, for her students to perform the play, "El Moscas y los Pesticidas," by Nephtali De León. The CEO of Migrants in Action, Noemi Ochoa (Moore) and Mrs. Diana Alejos and her students of the Sky's the Limit Migrant Club, collaborated with the City of Edinburg for the signing of a Proclamation to include the Mexican Border in the education of the migrant and non-migrant community on the dangers of pesticides. The club members, who had never performed before, but spent many hours practicing their roles in the play, were able to show much success. Their performance in this laughter-provoking play instilled in them pride they had never known before. They were asked to perform in front of over 1,500 students at Johnny E. Economedes High School and then they were asked to perform the play for students from the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The migrant students were transported to watch the educational play. The play aired on the District's TV channel for over 2 weeks. The students got to meet astronaut, Jose Hernandez and took pictures with him. After the play, the students were elated that they were asked to do an interview for one of the local TV channels. The following year, Mrs. Alejos wrote the play, "Harvest of Dreams," a play based on the life of one of her migrant students, Sofia Velazquez, and it too was performed by the following year's Sky's the Limit Migrant Club members. It was performed in front of over 1,500 students at her school and was aired on the District's TV channel for a few weeks. Here, she interviewed many staff members who they, themselves, had been migrant farmworkers and included their pictures and their success in a video at the end of each presentation showing the students from her school that many migrant farmworkers were able to get out of the fields to get an education and proceed to change their future and the future of their children and their children's children. The message to the migrant children and non-migrant children in the audience, "if they could make it, so can you."
One more accolade is that with Mrs. Alejos' guidance, migrant students have applied numerous times and have won National Recognition. Johnny G. Economedes High School through Mrs. Alejos's has had the most migrant students recognized at the National Migrant Conferences than any one school Nation-wide, boasting the most Albert Lee Wright, Jr. Memorial Scholarship recipients and the most baccalaureate scholars since becoming a migrant counselor in 2005. In 2010-Johnny G. Economedes Migrant Students, through Mrs. Alejos, were featured in the Netflix Documentary, "The Harvest" by Umberto Romano. He depicted the lives of migrant children working in the fields; these are the very children that help feed America. These children do back-breaking work picking the fruits and vegetables that we eat. Many, though, will also work hard and maintain excellent grades in their classes despite the hard work out of the classroom. Mrs. Alejos' passion stems from her own experiences as a migrant farmworker while growing up and living through some of the same challenges her students go through every day. She has learned to recognize the students who are a good fit for scholarships, therefore, helping them to obtain free money to defray the cost of obtaining a post-secondary education. In recognition of her outstanding body of work, Ms. Alejos was nominated to receive the College Board Counselor Recognition Award in 2022 and she was also selected to receive the Lifetime Service Award from the Association for Migrant Educators of Texas or AMET in the same year.
In conjunction with her work, Ms. Alejos remains abreast of ongoing changes in the ever-evolving field of education through her alignment with the Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA). She believes that "Education can change a person's life and the lives of their future children and their children's children." One of her students said it perfectly about Mrs. Alejos, "She can pick up on an unusual quality in every student and empowers that student." She attributes this ability to her many years as a counselor and her own experiences as a migrant. Mrs. Alejos will be retiring as an educator come December, 2023 after completing 45 years in Education.
While her career has been filled with standout moments, Ms. Alejos is most proud of her educational play "Harvest of Dreams" and finishing college in three years instead of four. Though hard work and dedication have brought her far in her career as an outstanding educator, she credits her success to her tenacity, grit, and determination to prove wrong those who tried to discourage her. In the next five years, Ms. Alejos intends to advocate for women, especially older women, and to become an active member in the community while serving as a role model for other women.
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