Adriana Figueroa to be Recognized for Efforts in Improving Arizona’s Education System

By: Cindy G. Castillo

Adriana Figueroa’s passion for education was born at the time she became a mom.

Born in Colombia, Figueroa is a mom to a 13 year old daughter and has made Arizona her home. She discovered her career interests when she began her search for educational options for her daughter.

“[That’s when] I found that not many children from the Latino community have as much access to the kind of education I wanted for my daughter,” Figueroa said. From there, she took on the mission of figuring out where the inequality in the Arizona education system came from.

Now, she’s proud to serve as Executive Director at the Pike & Susan Sullivan Foundation, a family organization devoted to help the Latino community and education. “There, we realize that educating Latino students isn’t about providing them with opportunities, but it’s also giving opportunities to the entire state.”

Figueroa says she’s a strong believer in that the success of students with equal the success of the state’s economy in the future. “We invest in programs and schools and we just want to make sure we’re supporting students.”

And it’s because of her efforts and hard work in improving our state’s education system that’s led her to earn plenty of recognition in the community. Earlier this year, she was recognized by Valle del Sol’s Profiles of Success and in November, she’s being recognized in the 10th Annual celebration of Stylos Awards.

“I fell like I’ve come to a point in my life where I get up every morning and get to do what I feel most passionate about,” she said, “and that has been amazing. The recognition is more about inspiring others.”

She said she made the choice to work on education because she understands the need of more Latino leadership in Arizona. “I want to see young Latinos sitting at a table and having a conversation about technology and innovation, so if these recognitions can help inspire other young individuals to continue to work hard and not be discouraged, then I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”

Needless to say, she feels most proud of being able to work hand in hand with families, and at the same time, being able to inspire her own daughter. “I’m incredibly proud to be raising a Latina who I know has the perspective that there’s nothing that’s going to prevent her from achieving her goals.”

In working with families, her goal is to work with parents and help them understand the power that they have in fixing the problems that Arizona faces in education. A recent study by WalletHub places Arizona as the 49th best state to be a teacher. Only North Carolina and West Virginia followed at the bottom of the list.

Figueroa’s vision for the future involves changing these numbers. “In the next five years, I want to see a significant improvement in the way in which we innovate in education. I would love to be able to be part of some cutting-edge ideas when it comes to teaching … we need innovation, so if I can in any way support individual districts or charter schools who are doing innovative things to reach more students, that would be amazing.”

Adriana’s work in education is being recognized at this year’s Stylos Awards on November 21st. It’ll be a night of music, fashion, awards, but most importantly, a great event to raise funds for scholarships for undocumented students. To find out more or to attend, click here.