Advocating for educational equity

Jessica Pedroza ’17

Legislative Assistant, Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ)

MAJOR: POLITICAL SCIENCE

As the child of Mexican immigrants and a first-generation college student, Jessica Pedroza ’17 may have never predicted she would one day walk the halls of Congress. Nevertheless, those experiences — as well as her years navigating public and private education — deeply inform her work advocating for equity in the American educational system.

After obtaining her master’s in teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education and teaching fifth-grade science and social studies in Chicago through the Teach for America program, Pedroza earned an Educational Graduate Fellowship with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. As a Fellow, she worked with UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, to unpack how school climate and discipline issues disproportionately affect students of color. Then, she worked for Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM), a member of the House Education and Labor Committee. Now, as a legislative assistant in the office of Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ), Pedroza works to help advance just national K-12 educational policy that ensures students have access to a high quality education, fully funded schools, and diverse teachers. 

A native of South Phoenix, Arizona, Pedroza was a member of the inaugural cohorts of both the AnBryce Scholars and Fighting Irish Scholars programs, going on to earn her degree in political science in 2017. Additionally, as the Anchor intern for Latino Campus Ministry, vice president of the Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy, and co-founder of 1stG ND, she devoted her time to Latino spirituality and identity, immigration and activism, and support of fellow low-income and first-generation students at Notre Dame.