Motivosmag.com

🎓✨ Congratulations are in store for former Motivos mentees Diomarys, Lizmary, Desiree, Karyme, and Clarissa who earned new degrees this month! We're proud of all they’ve accomplished and honored to have been part of their journeys. 💙📚

👏 Diomarys Negron Beck earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland Global Campus. She steadily worked on it part-time while moving across the country, being deployed to different parts of the world as a US Marine, getting married, and raising three children! She even recently completed her first half marathon. Talk about a goal-getter! She was part of the very first Motivos Teen Editorial Team back in 2006/7 when she attended Edison High School. 🌎🎖️👩‍🎓

👏🎓Lizmary earned her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Governor’s University while teaching 8th grade English at Antonio Pantoja Charter School in Philadelphia. 🍎✏️ She is a graduate of Holy Family University and The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush High School 🎭 🎓 Lizmary authored several cover stories for Motivos and continues to write for Motivos today! 💙✨

👏 Clarissa Faustin was a member of the Motivos Editorial Team back in 2016, conducting interviews during the school year and helping with Motivos summer camps. She recently earned her master’s degree in English from Arcadia University. 📖✨

👏 Desiree Fernandez completed her bachelor’s degree from Temple University's Tyler School of Art and Architecture after transferring from Community College of Philadelphia. Desiree was a mentee and then a fellow for Motivos while in high school and college. She even started her own T-shirt company!🎨

👏 Karyme Font earned her bachelor’s degree in Speech and Communicative Disorders from Penn State University. She was part of the Motivos team throughout high school, started a writing club at her old middle school, authored a Motivos cover story, presented at a statewide conference with Motivos' founder and received the Dr. Juan Andrade, Jr. National Scholarship for Young Hispanic Leaders.

Your Motivos family is cheering you on always! Thank you for inspiring the next ge

Motivos’ founder, Jenée Chizick Agüero, presented at the Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program (PAMEP) 2026 Conference this April in State College, PA.

Our founder has a special place in her heart for those adapting to a new land, a new language, and a new culture.

When she was 17, she lived as an exchange student in Japan, learning the language the way a baby does—but in the body of a teenager. It wasn’t easy. Adjusting to an entirely different way of life took a lot of patience and perseverance. But it got better. She learned to love her new life, and that year on the other side of the world shaped her deeply. It changed how she enters spaces, how she interacts with people, how she listens, navigates, interprets, and responds. It influences what she pay attention to, what she prioritizes, why she serves, and the work she chooses to do today through Motivos and beyond.

That is why she applied and why she was honored to have been selected to present at the PAMEP 2026 Conference this April in State College, PA.

The conference theme was Education Without Borders: Bridging Yesterday, Shaping Tomorrow. Her workshop, “Connection Before Curriculum: Building Bonds to Strengthen Outcomes,” was designed for educators and practitioners working with migrant and multilingual learners. The session explored how relationship-centered practices can transform educational experiences for both educator and student, in and out of the classroom. Participants engaged in hands-on activities that strengthen active listening, self-awareness, and culturally responsive problem-solving through a multicultural education lens.

Attendees noted her ‘authentic and creative manner’, ‘contagious outlook and positivity which made the concepts come alive’.

If you’re looking for a speaker or trainer for your professional development sessions for especially your multilingual learners, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Subscribing schools and libraries in 43 States order our magazine but we make specials rounds to over 100 community drop off points around our hometown of Philadelphia to be sure the community has easy access to cozy on up with a cafecito, pan y una copia de Motivos. Happy reading!

Copies are now waiting for you at La Caleńita, Concilio, Esperanza, APM, Oteri's, Olney HS, Antonia Pantoja, ASPIRA, Tierra Colombiana, Juanita Park Academy, Samuel Fels HS, Feltonville Arts & Sciences . . .

📣 Sharing a hidden educational gem in our hometown of Philadelphia! Come tour La Salle Academy in West Kensington, May 1st!

💙 Tuition is just $250/month for 10 months! After-school and summer enrichment included.

🏫 La Salle Academy is an independent Catholic school serving 3rd-8th grades.

🤝 Consider stopping by to tour the school, experience the mission, and learn what this incredible community has to offer. 💫

📅 The last First Look Friday is tomorrow May 1st!

⏰ 8:30–10:00 AM

📝 To register, please complete this Google Form:
https://forms.gle/5a54VaSZ8KmoNAMV9

📞 Or simply call the school at 215-739-5804

🎓🌱 A great opportunity for families exploring values-centered education in Philly!

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📣¡Estamos compartiendo esta joya educativa escondida en nuestra ciudad de Filadelfia! Ven y descubre la escuela este 1.ºde mayo! 💙

💵 La matrícula es de solo $250 al mes por 10 meses. ¡Actividades de enriquecimiento y becas para escuelas secundarias católicas disponibles!

📚 Grados 3.º a 8.º, con una proporción de 15:1 estudiantes por maestro.

☀️ Sesión de verano incluida.

🏫 La Salle Academy, una escuela primaria católica independiente ubicada en West Kensington, está organizando “First Look Fridays” 👀✨

📅 Mañana, 1.ºde mayo, es el ultima día para aprovechar la oportunidad a recorrer la escuela, conocer su misión 💫 y descubrir todo lo que esta increíble comunidad tiene para ofrecer atreves First Look Friday.

⏰ 8:30–10:00 a. m.

📝 Para registrarte, completa este formulario de Google:
https://forms.gle/5a54VaSZ8KmoNAMV9

📞 O llama directamente a la escuela al 215-739-5804

🎓🌱 ¡Una excelente oportunidad para familias que buscan una educación centrada en valores en Filadelfia!

What a joy it was to celebrate the stories and people behind the Motivos Connection Edition on March 25th!

We are grateful for our hosts at La Salle Academy Philadelphia and to the over 100 friends - and new friends! - who joined us.

It's worth pausing after each edition to honor the courage it takes to share our stories so meaningfully, both in print and in person. Gathering as a community allows us to build deeper understanding and appreciation for one another's journeys.

One full circle moment that brought me personal joy was seeing Amanda Encinosa find the courage to publicly launch her photography business at the event. Amanda was part of the Motivos youth editorial team at 16 and reconnected this year in her 30s as she continues her work in teaching coaching graphic design and photography. That moment brought me back to 2006 when fellow Rotarians invited me - in their matronly loving way - to publicly launch Motivos at their annual officer induction celebration at Tierra Colombiana. One of those Rotarians, Maria Mills Torres, now retired was in attendance and witnessed this beautiful passing of the baton. I identified with the jitters and nervousness Amanda felt and could assure her, like my Rotarian 'godmothers' once did for me, that she will grow stronger along this path as she pours into the next generation.

Another full circle moment came with the realization that Motivos' very first cover story in 2006 featured BUSCA students from LaSalle University. Now in Motivos' 20th anniversary year, the celebration was hosted by La Salle Academy and this edition features Derek Rodriguez, a third grade teacher who was once a student at the academy himself. Unplanned yet full of serendipity.

I love how full circle moments bind us in community and connect generations.

Keep the connections going. Keep sharing your stories.

With deep appreciation to everyone who helped make this evening so meaningful.

~Founder Jenée