My name is Michelee “Shelly” Quiroz Cruz-Crawford. I am a wife of 21 years, a mother to a future teacher and baseball star, a social science researcher, a barrier breaker, a school principal, a Nevada National Guard officer, and the first elected Latino Regent for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

In honor of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, I would like to honor those who came before me and those who have used actions and words to pave the way for my community.  Ida B. Wells inspired me from an early age with her activism through her writings and community advocacy. She was an educator and journalist leading the early civil rights movement as a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). I learned about her in grade school and she taught me the power of community voices.

I have navigated a life defined by adversity and growth. I was born into challenging circumstances that included foster care. However, it was within these challenges that I discovered resilience and passion for education when an elementary school teacher told me that I had potential. Thank you, Mrs. Italiano! I never had anyone tell me I could make a difference and her daily affirmations became my inspiration.

This is why I chose a career in education. It was not an easy start as I navigated being a first-generation high school graduate and working five jobs to make ends meet. 

I graduated high school at the age of 15 and earned my first bachelor’s degree shortly after. I remember people telling me how smart I was because I graduated early. Little did they know, I graduated early because I needed to put a roof over my sibling’s heads and food on the table. I needed to get to work. 

I started my career at Cheyenne High School and over the years, I have taught kindergarten through higher education. I have taken the teaching profession very seriously. I know that every conversation I have, every lesson I teach, and every time I mentor, I am changing lives. I see the our future in every student.

For the past nine years, I have been proud to lead C.C. Ronnow Elementary.

I am the first principal of the school that looks like the community I serve and has experiences like the community I serve. I do not take the job lightly. I am proud to say that I run the only dual language elementary school within CCSD with plans on expanding. My school has reduced behavior, referrals, and suspensions by 95%. My staff, students, and families love me, almost as much as I love them. They are my fire. 

In 2015, when I walked into my school building, I was taken aback by the fact that my nearly 100% Hispanic and African-American student population school, had mostly Caucasian teachers and mostly Black and Brown support staff. I remember going around the school asking people if they noticed this. The support staff responded they did notice while the teaching staff said they did not notice it before I brought it up. So I got to work, and I started asking support staff what they do to become a licensed teacher. At that point, I was faced with so many barriers. It became overwhelming. So little by little, I met with support staff. We would look up grants, fill out the FASFA together, call the Nevada Department of Education, enroll in teacher licensure programs, and everything else under the sun. Years later, we became one of the most diverse teaching campuses in CCSD. We did this because we took care of each other. We had no idea it was remarkable but outsiders started to notice.

My story is not over.

In 2019, I was completing my doctorate in organizational leadership. I just finished my qualifying exams and I was working on honing in on my action research project. My support staff mentorship program had grown and I surveyed 3,500 support staff members in the state of Nevada identifying barriers to licensure. My survey had nothing to do with my doctorate. I was just trying to grow teachers of color because I knew the importance. According to the Department of Labor Economics, when students of color have a teacher from the same ethnicity and background, they are more likely to graduate high school and enroll in college. It was at that point I was trying to solve one of the hardest barriers. In the state of Nevada, all teachers must complete 16 weeks of student teaching. Traditionally, first-generation students and students of color often cannot take off 16 weeks of work. We had a support staff population that could not afford to take 16 weeks off work but they were willing to do the work. I was telling Sean Parker of Teach for America about this problem. He said, “Why don’t you write a bill?” I responded, “I don’t know how to write a bill.” He connected me to Senator Mo Denis and we wrote a bill. Today, I am happy to say SB352 passed unanimously in 2021. Even though it did not have a fiscal note, it was such a great bill that former Governor Sisolak attached $10 million to it. At this point, my piloted paraprofessional mentorship program grew. It kept growing and growing. Today, the Public Education Foundation oversees the program with hundreds of Black, Brown, and first-generation college-seeking paraprofessional mentees. My doctoral action research project became: Removing Barriers to Create Equity Policy.

My story is not over.

In 2020, I joined the Nevada National Guard as an Equal Opportunity Officer. I am now in my 4th year of serving the great state of Nevada. Most of my service days consist of me walking around units, having one-on-one conversations about barriers to promotion, reporting on strengths and equities, and teaching resiliency courses. It is a very fulfilling. I am thankful to Major General Berry for giving me this opportunity. He is a DEI champion.

My story is not over.

While serving in the Nevada National Guard, I still had equity work to do for teacher licensure. I continued to pass bills for equity, but I needed to get a closer seat at the table. I ran for public office to serve my community as a Regent, so I could pass equity policy within the Nevada System of Higher Education. As an educator, I know education is the greatest equalizer. Whether it is traditional education or self-improvement. Education was my access point to upward mobility. Education and career access improves the gross domestic product, reduces domestic violence, and creates generational wealth, and overall happiness. In 2023, I was elected as the first Latino Regent. I am now the chair of the DEI committee and I fight every day to create equity access to college and career opportunities.

Thank you for reading my story.

My story is not over. Neither is yours.