Jessica Ramirez

Jessica Ramirez is a 2012 Golden Apple Scholar. She majored in Early Childhood Education with a TESOL minor at Illinois State University. Jessica has interned as a teacher assistant at El Hogar Del Nino, a childcare center in the Pilsen community, as well as Tarkington Elementary school. She has also had experience as a Camp Assistant in Eastern Illinois University's summer Lego & Engineering program.

Her first year at Illinois State University, she became a noble member of the nation's first and largest co-ed Latino interest fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda-National, Inc. Jessica was the President of the student organization, Association of Latin American Students (ALAS). In Spring 2014, she participated in an Alternative Spring Break program where she helped restore Douthat National State Park in Millboro, VA. In addition to doing service, Jessica has been a volunteer at the Boys and Girls club of America in Bloomington, IL for the past 4 years. As a college senior, she was the President of the Multicultural Greek Council at Illinois State University, where she oversaw seven chapter organizations on campus. Jessica student-taught in Little Village, Chicago where she gained unique experience from differentiating instruction to creating assessments aligned with course objectives. She is currently a CPS teacher at Hamline Elementary, where she teaches preschool children in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.