Project Description
Claudia Lopez, Fellow
Fairfield Elementary Academy
Chicago, IL
Claudia López was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of immigrants. Her parents took a one-way honeymoon to the United States, equipped with hopes and aspirations to fulfill the American Dream. From an early age, her parents instilled in her the value of education and hard work. It was through her paternal grandmother that she experienced the life-long impact of using prophetic language as groundwork for a self-fulfilling vision and a means to developing an efficacious mind. In 2003, Claudia began her career as a bilingual 3rd grade teacher and then served as a Reading Interventionist at Roosevelt Elementary in Cicero, Illinois. She transitioned to school leadership in 2009. She has been the principal at Fairfield Academy, a school on the Southwest side of Chicago since 2014. It is her belief that children and adults have an unending capacity to learn and achieve when nurtured and supported in a safe and supportive environment by people who believe and live through the understanding that there are no limits to the human mind.
Jeffrey Heredia, Ally
Assistant Principal
Fairfield Elementary Academy
Chicago, IL
Jeffrey Heredia is Assistant Principal at Fairfield Academy in Chicago, Illinois. Jeff has been working in the field of education for 22 years, 13 years as a high school classroom teacher and 9 years as an administrator at both the high school and elementary level. He currently has the honor of working at Fairfield Elementary Academy, only blocks away from where he grew up and went to school. Jeff conducted his undergraduate studies at Mount St. Clare College, a small Liberal Arts school in Clinton, Iowa. This was an eye opening experience for him because it made him realize how poorly prepared he was to engage with the level of work expected. This experience helped inspire him to go into the field of education to help others be better prepared for life after high school. During his teaching career he was chosen to be part of a cohort of teachers to return to school to receive their Masters in Educational Leadership at Northeastern Illinois University. Shortly after completing this degree, he was accepted into the New Leaders Principal Preparation Program and served as a resident principal at a high school in the Little Village community of Chicago. He was further inspired and decided to make the leap into the elementary school setting. It has been an amazing experience that has taught him so much about himself and young people in general. He truly enjoys engaging with teachers, students and families in the process of preparing students to be successful for life after elementary school.