Classified Employee of the Year

Clerk/Community Assistant, Instructional Support
Corona-Norco Unified School District

Elia wants to be remembered for being a role model in all her encounters with every student. Elia recognizes that students can feel nurtured with a simple morning greeting, and that it powerfully validates their worth. In her daily work, Elia operates as a “hook”, a caring person that gets students and family connected to their education and positively affects student attendance.

Her dedication and hard work to address the issues of our most at-risk youth has helped transform them into at-promise youth. Elia took initiative to identify 87 students who were in danger of not graduating on time and came up with the idea of “Senior SARB,” which was successful in helping 85 of those students graduate.

Elia partners with families and compassionately helps them understand the importance and attainability of going to school every day. Elia was instrumental in helping mold the new SARB process by shifting the focus to a more positive and restorative approach. She takes on all challenges with an open mind, positive attitude, a desire to learn, and the drive to do an effective job.

Elia's Message

Receiving this award has made me feel satisfied both professionally and personally. Being recognized for something that I am passionate about makes me feel very special and appreciated by co-workers because they recognize the hard work that I do. I also feel appreciated by my immediate family who has supported me by listening to all the stories about my students. Attending this event with my family and co-workers allows me to share the recognition with them, as they have also been a part of this journey with me. I also want to share this award with other classified employees who are making an impact on students to ensure they have a brighter future, especially to those working with High School students. For me, working with at-risk youth is the best job that I could ever have. Seeing their confidence grow and succeed after they had no hope or motivation to graduate is priceless. Receiving this award has shown me that I am on the right path in accomplishing my goals of helping as many students as I can.