Meet Karen Miranda, Speech-Language Pathologist with 20 years in PGCPS.

Q. What is your heritage and what country (or countries) is your family from?
A. El Salvador

Q. What does Hispanic Heritage Month mean to you personally, and why is it important to celebrate it in the PGCPS community?
A. Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate many Latin-American countries' independence. It is such a proud time for us. It's also a time to showcase our rich and lively culture by sharing our food, music, art, and successes with the world. It's important for the Salvadoran culture to be represented in the PGCPS community given the high number of Salvadoran students we support here.

Q. How has your cultural background and heritage shaped your perspective as a leader in education?
A. I was born in El Salvador and experienced much of the same hardships that our children are experiencing now, such as separation from parents, reunification, culture shock, and learning English while adapting to a whole new way of life. This perspective lets me see the students for who they are. Being in Special Education, specifically as an assessor, my background has helped me to understand the nuances of learning English versus a true disorder in order to minimize disproportionality and avoid over or under identification of students in special education.

Q. What advice do you have for those interested in pursuing a career in education, especially those from Latino backgrounds?
A. I say do it! We need you. We need more multilingual SLPs. Latinos are the second largest student population in this wonderful county and they need representation, support, guidance, and protection. It's up to us to directly do this for them or teach others on how to work with the latino population. We should all know how to serve our diverse student body.

Q. Can you recommend a book, movie, podcast or other resource that students, parents and educators can explore to learn more about Hispanic heritage and its significance in our society?
A. For kids, I highly recommend watching the movie CoCo. It really outlines our latino connection to family, food, music and perseverance. The website Colorin Colorado is a great resource for parents and educators to learn all about working with English Learners. There are a plethora of strategies, books, songs, and of course activities for Hispanic Heritage Month.