Grubbies

About Leidy

Leidy V. Quiceno was born in Colombia and raised in Boston, MA. She is passionate about civil, racial, and educational rights. She has a BA in Criminal Justice (magna cum laude); is a member of the National Criminal Justice Honor Society (Alpha Phi Sigma); and has earned a Graduate Certificate in Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. As a former teacher turned Student Advocate, turned community organizer. She currently strives to racially, politically and academically empower “at-promise” urban youth and communities of color. She also worked as a Research Assistant for UMass Boston’s Latino Student Success Initiative (LSSI) and the Latinx Leadership Opportunity Program (LLOP). Her 2016 LSSI research project shed light on the personal, academic, and professional experiences of Latinx transfer students from Bunker Hill Community College, whom expressed the many barriers (language, racial, cultural, and financial) they face on a day-to-day basis as non-traditional first generation students. Her presentation at the Annual Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) conference, sought to communicate how educators and higher educational institutions can listen to the voices and narratives of vulnerable and marginalized populations in order to best support such students to achieve academic success. As a graduate student, Leidy Quiceno focused on the School-to-prison pipeline and educational reform through the use of Transnational, Cultural, and Community Studies (TCCS, MS 18’). She aspires to continue working with Black and Latinx communities as an educator, leader, youth mentor, and advocate.