Laura Gardner, MSW
Laura has 20 years of experience working in education, refugee resettlement, and social work. While in education, she worked as a district level manager for immigrant family and community engagement as well as a school social worker. Laura also worked for Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS) managing their national technical assistance initiative to federal Refugee School Impact Grantees. Laura has facilitated professional development on building the capacity of teachers and school systems to engage immigrant families in their children’s education, language access, cultural competency, equity, unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant family reunification, and refugee resettlement. Laura holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Education. In 2017, she founded her own organization, Immigrant Connections.
Email: laura@immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org
Website: https://www.immigrantsrefugeesandschools.org/
Twitter: @lauragardner79
Nelson Flores, Ph.D.
Nelson Flores studies how language and race intersect in bilingual education policies and practices in ways that are harmful to bilingual students of color. This includes historical work that traces the origins of these policies and practices as well as contemporary work that documents the ways that these policies and practices are enacted in classrooms. He also works with bilingual teachers, administrators, and policymakers on reconceptualizing bilingual education policies and practices in ways that recognize and build on the linguistic dexterity of bilingual students of color. His work has been featured by NPR, Education Week, and the LA Times.
Email: nflores@upenn.edu
Website: https://upenn.academia.edu/NelsonFlores
Twitter: @nelsonlflores
Emily Francis
Astrid Emily Francis is a nationally recognized English as a Second Language teacher at Concord High School in Concord, North Carolina. She serves students in 9th-12th grade with various English proficiency levels. Emily is a native Spanish-speaker who is originally from Guatemala, and came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor. Her experience as an English Language Learner inspired her to become an ESL teacher and affords her a deep understanding of the challenges her students must overcome to find success. Emily earned a BA in Spanish and a MAT in ESL from UNC-Charlotte. She serves as a professional development facilitator, motivational speaker, and Keynote. Emily forms part of the Executive Board of The Carolinas TESOL (teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). Emily is a contributing author for Community College Teacher Preparation for Diverse Geographies: Implications for Access and Equity for Preparing a Diverse Teacher Workforce Emily served as teacher liaison to the Cabarrus County Board of Education as Teacher of the Year 2016. As a leader, Emily’s focus is to inspire students to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.
Email: astrid.francis@cabarrus.k12.nc.us
Website: https://inspiringenglishlanguagelearners.weebly.com/
Twitter: @emilyfranESL
