M E E T TH E C A S E S TU D Y P RO V I D E R S
Kathy Rivera, Sampson, NC Juntos
Jessica Aguilar, Pender County, NC Juntos
Kathy is from New Jersey and made North Carolina her home in 2004. She and her husband, Luis, have five children, so education is a priority in their home, which is why they are huge supporters of Juntos. Rivera joined the Juntos team as a parent and coordinator when her oldest daughter, Naomi, was in high school because she wanted to learn how to navigate the journey to higher education. Since Rivera and her family joined Juntos in 2011, three of her children have graduated from high school and attended four-year universities. Her fourth child is a high school junior and a first-year community college student, and the youngest is in middle school. In December 2018, Rivera graduated from the University of Mount Olive with a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a minor in professional and technical communications. Rivera believes that Juntos inspires youth and adults. Her passion for educating parents and students led her to become a Community Resiliency Model Instructor and a Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor this summer. Her passion for serving others and learning led her to begin a new chapter in education at Liberty University, where she is earning a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. Rivera feels that her work as a school liaison and Juntos coordinator are a perfect match for her because they allow her to be a piece of the puzzle among the Latinx families in her community.
Jessica Aguilar is the Pender County Juntos coordinator and oversees programming at Pender High School. She joined the Juntos team in 2016 as a student volunteer and became the coordinator in 2018. She received her bachelor's degree in social work from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Aguilar works primarily with college and high school students who identify as Latinx and families from immigrant backgrounds. Her goal is to help students have an easier passage to attain their goals and familiarize them with available resources. She also works at the UNCW Centro Hispano, where she recruits college volunteers to engage her Juntos students in Pender County. Being the daughter of immigrants is a core reason that she continues to help other students who may come from the same background as she does to deal with obstacles that come with being the first to graduate high school and pursue higher education. Aguilar plans to pursue a master’s degree in public administration and continue her Hispanic/Latinx and immigrant community involvement.
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