For Kids and Family: Ed.L.D. Marshal Ventura Rodriguez

When Ventura Rodriguez, Ed.L.D.’15, walks the stage, diploma in hand, on Commencement day, he will do so accompanied by his three children. Not present on stage will be the large number of people who have helped him achieve this incredible milestone, including those cheering from Panama — his native country.

“I’m very cognizant of my family and the hundreds of people in Panama, San Francisco, Kenya, and New York that have helped get me to where I am,” he says. “There are going to be a lot of people celebrating in Panama as the first person in a very large family graduates from Harvard. I’m very proud to represent my family at this moment. But this degree for me is also dedicated to the thousands of kids and families I’ve worked with over the years in schools.”

Selected as a commencement marshal by his cohort, Rodriguez insists that any of his classmates could be standing in his shoes as they are all leaders. “Any one of us could be leading at moment,” he says. “In the past three years, we’ve all taken turns leading the cohort in different ways. I’m so incredibly humbled by being asked to lead us at this moment.”

The Ed.L.D. experience has undoubtedly shaped Rodriguez — a first-generation American immigrant from Panama who was transformed by public education — inspiring him to pursue not only an education career but also his own education as a leader.

“I was able to graduate from high school, go to a four year college, and end up here,” he told HGSE during an interview in 2013.

Rodriguez admits that when he entered the Ed.L.D. Program, he wasn’t sure how it would impact him or where he’d end up, but now he leaves even more committed to the mission that originally propelled him into education.

“I leave the program recommitted to the reasons I entered education 17 or 18 years ago to begin with and more recommitted to my goal to provide opportunities to children,” he says, noting that striving for equity for children from underrepresented communities or communities that have not had access to higher education is at the heart of everything he does.

He describes the Ed.L.D. experience as one like slingshot in the sense that he’s been forced to back up slowly through reflection only to be sprung forward into action. “I feel well-prepared to do the work I’m doing right now,” he says.

As part of his residency, Ventura worked for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), where he helped design a program to turn around eight low-performing middle schools in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Following graduation, he will remain in the Boston-area where he will spend the summer continuing to work for DESE. In particular, Rodriguez will be coordinating efforts in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where the school district was recently placed under state receivership due to years of underperformance.

“I am working on Holyoke with a small team helping to prioritize decisions that need to be made immediately and also laying the groundwork for the new district turnaround plan, which will be written this summer,” he says.

As part of his work in Holyoke, Rodriguez will help direct the school district until a new district leader is selected. Rodriguez enjoys straddling policy and strategy development, as well as having opportunities to implement reforms at a district level.

“Working from a state education agency has been incredibly influential,” he says. “I leave the Ed.L.D. Program knowing that we really need to improve the public school system to provide better outcomes for kids. I also believe that, as a society, we have to look at broader ways to address poverty. I see low-performing schools as a problem but also a symptom of something larger that is not working.”