Mulberry High’s Victoria Pineda has been named the Florida PASS Student of the Year.
Florida PASS is part of a national program for migrant students that allows them to earn and recover high school credits, recognizing that “migrant work often follows the seasonal calendar but not the academic calendar.”
Pineda was chosen as the Florida PASS Student of the Year for her “persistence in the face of multiple challenges, and determination to complete the PASS coursework and earn the needed credits for graduation,” according to a letter from the Florida Department of Education.
Dani Higgins, a migrant interventionist teacher for PCPS, said she is proud of Pineda.
“Often, students can fall behind when they make frequent moves during the school year. This was definitely the case for Victoria,” Higgins said. “She worked very hard to complete the courses during the summer. I was the tutor who worked with her, and we would often work on her classes late at night when she got off of work.”
Higgins said that Pineda now has a chance to win the PASS program’s national Student of the Year award.
“Of course, she deserves to win,” Higgins said.