Adria Padilla-Chavez, M.A., is a Chicana from Denver and graduate of Denver Public Schools. She joined the Crown Institute in 2020 as a Graduate Research Assistant. Adria received her Bachelor's of Science in Bilingual Education from the University of New Mexico in 2002. She then returned home and received her Master’s degree from CU Boulder in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education in 2005. This is her first year as a doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Learning Sciences and Human Development program in the School of Education. Adria was a public school teacher for nineteen years in the Denver Metro area. The most treasured part of her career as an educator was the relationships she had with her students and their families. They are her inspiration. Adria is pursuing a Ph.D. with hopes to impact systemic change through humanizing research that affirms the dignity of all children by valuing their identities, language and culture so that they may live their inherent potential.