Please click on link below for Bio:

Marquis Who’s Who Honors Patricia Trejo, Ed.D., for Expertise in Education and Educational Leadership

Ms. Patricia Bolinger’s dedication is evident in every role she has undertaken since beginning her teaching career in 2002. Born in the Bronx, New York, to parents who immigrated from Barranquilla, Colombia, 61 years ago, Ms. Bolinger draws inspiration from her roots and her lifelong commitment to education. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Varying Exceptionalities and a Master’s degree in Reading Education, with endorsements in ESOL and Educational Leadership, showcasing her drive for continual growth.

Throughout her impressive journey, Ms. Bolinger has served as a Special Education Teacher, Reading Teacher, Reading Coach, Dean of Students, and, since 2015, as an outstanding Assistant Principal for Broward County Public Schools. She has held the position of Assistant Principal at Alternative Centers, Community Schools, Technical Colleges, and Traditional High Schools, always with the singular goal of guiding students toward academic and personal success.

In her current role as Assistant Principal at a high school, Ms. Bolinger’s inspiring leadership has resulted in remarkable improvements in academic proficiency. Notably, her oversight of the English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies departments has fostered significant growth. For instance, 9th and 10th graders in ELA achieved a 57% level 3 proficiency in the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) Test, marking a 13-percentage point improvement from 2024. Additionally, 11th graders’ History End Of Course Exam proficiency soared from 64% to an outstanding 82%, reflecting an 18-percentage point increase.

Ms. Bolinger’s unwavering commitment to equity is also evident in her work with adult ESOL learners. She has developed impactful initiatives and courses designed to build their confidence and open doors to post-secondary education, deeply believing that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed both academically and in the workforce.

Ms. Bolinger served as Secretary on the Executive Board of South Florida ALAS from 2014 to 2016 and in 2022. She currently serves as the President further underscoring her dedication to educational leadership.

Jessica De La Prida is an educational leader with over 20 years of experience leading with the belief that every student can learn and a love for empowering students and families with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed.

She holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from Florida Atlantic University and a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Secondary Education from Florida International University. During her career, she has empowered students and families of diverse demographics to aspire and succeed academically, economically, and socially. She has a passion for bringing people of diverse backgrounds together to work towards improving public education for all students.

She currently serves as the Supervisor for English Language Learners in the Department of Multilingual Learners for Hillsborough County Public Schools.

Her prior roles in education include Outreach Coordinator of Parent School Partnerships, Professional Learning Specialist, Latin America International Bilingual Coordinator, ESOL Instructional Facilitator, and 18 years of Secondary Social Studies instruction and school-based responsibilities.

In addition to educational roles, Jessica has served the community in other capacities. Her respect and belief that everyone has the right to pursue equal opportunity drove her to lead diverse volunteer efforts that aimed to ensure fair access to opportunities for underrepresented communities. Some of these efforts were: youth and single-parent mentoring, pipeline to prison prevention, mentoring and supporting community members previously incarcerated, community homeless outreach, and women empowerment nationally and internationally. The goal of each initiative considered the individuals’ barriers while taking actions that embraced the unique identities and perspectives of all she supported and collaborated with.

Luis Nobriga, a transformational educator with almost two decades of teaching, leading, and coaching experience.

Luis is passionate about helping others grow. Through his core values of courage, authenticity, purpose, and optimism, Luis has been able to bring many of his personal goals and visions to life. Now as a coach of other leaders, he hopes to be a lifeline, resource, and accountability-partner for others as they do the same.

By 21, he had realized his mother’s dream of graduating from “una buena universidad”. Something they both sacrificed and worked for since they immigrated into the United States from Venezuela when Luis was just 9 years old. Not only did Luis graduate from The University of Florida on a full academic scholarship, he was also inducted into the UF Hall of Fame for his service, leadership, and impact on campus.

In his early twenties, Luis found his purpose in education. As a 5th grade bilingual reading teacher in Houston, Mr. Nobriga helped students transition from being instructed in Spanish to being taught and assessed in English for the first time. His personal experiences as an English Language Leaner and his drive to have a transformational impact in his students’ lives, led him to pursue a Masters in Education. This allowed him to leverage both his first-hand experiences along with institutional knowledge to better serve his students. During his time in Houston, Luis was recognized by his school as “Teacher of the Year” and by the district for being in the top quartile in student academic achievement and growth in English Language Arts as measured by state and national assessments.

In his late twenties, Luis discovered and fell in love with leadership coaching. As a founding middle school teacher in New York City, Luis received high quality one-on-one and cohort coaching which helped him lead his students accomplishing nationally ranked academic results and lead others in doing the same. As a grade team leader, dean of students, instructional coach, and assistant principal he helped found a high-performing school that continues to serve and positively impact the lives of hundreds of students today.

Now in his thirties, Luis is back in his home state, living the dream as the Founding Principal for KIPP Courage Academy, a public charter school on the North Campus of Miami-Dade College serving close to 500 black and brown middle students.

Luis Nobriga founded Feed The Lion as a way to provide high quality and holistic one-on-one or small group coaching to other leaders and educators, especially those serving as or aspiring to be school leaders, the most impactful and demanding job in the world.

Angel Gomez was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Venezuela, moving to the South Florida area in 1984. He has three gorgeous children who are all the product of Broward County Public Schools (BCPS): Sami, Andy, and Jacob.

Angel graduated from the Broward County Public School system, received his bachelor’s degree in Secondary Math Education from the University of Central Florida, and acquired his master’s in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. Angel graduated as a member of the first PROPEL (Principal Rapid Orientation and Preparation in Educational Leadership) Principal cohort in June 2013, a partnership between Broward County Public Schools and Florida International University.

He began his educational career as a Math Teacher and Student Government Association (SGA) advisor at Colonial High School in Orlando, FL. Angel consequently moved back to South Florida where he started in Broward County Public Schools as a Math teacher and SGA Advisor at Plantation High School, then moved to Coconut Creek High School as an Assistant Principal, and stopped shortly at West Broward High school as an Assistant Principal for one semester. Soon after getting to West Broward High School, Angel became the Principal at Piper High School in Sunrise. FL. Within the last few years, Angel successfully completed an internship as the Director for the BCPS Demographics and Student Assignments department within the division of Portfolio Services. He retired from the School District of Lee County as the Chief of Communications and Legislative Affairs.

With a busy career, a bustling household and many community activities, Angel still found time to pursue public office. On January 2008 Angel Gomez was elected as a City Commissioner for the City of Weston where he served for 9 year as a Commissioner and Vice-Mayor. In 2014 Angel joined FL-ALAS and served as the President of the organization until 2021, and now serves as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.