Bilingual and Bicultural
CU Denver Counseling Alum Helps Families Navigate Education
Julie McMorris | School of Education & Human Development Jun 17, 2024
“I realized that I spent a lot of time working with unaccompanied youth and talking with them about school systems,” Medina Pasillas said. “The school system isn’t only a way to get an education, but it’s also a measure of good moral character for a lot of youth in the country, and that was information that many of them didn’t know.”
She made a move into education but began as an office manager and then a dean. While working in the role of dean, she was involved in restorative practices and, through that work, began working alongside school counselors. That’s when she decided she wanted to become a counselor herself. “I decided, I’m going to become a counselor so that I can properly serve all the youth I’m working with,” Medina Pasillas said. She then enrolled in the CU Denver Counseling program in the School of Education & Human Development.
“During my time in the Counseling program, I was grateful for the schedule. I was able to work a job while I earned my degree, which was nice. I also really appreciate the diversity of the faculty and staff. I was able to work with diverse individuals in my clinical practicum and have supervision that was culturally relevant to me,” she said.
Medina Pasillas also is grateful for the hands-on experiences she was given while studying in the program. “I did a clinical practicum at the CU Denver Counseling Center. I was able to see clients and provide sessions. In my school practicum, I was at a DPS middle/high school. I was able to focus on forming relationships, providing interventions, and overall ensuring that students felt heard and connected to the school,” she said.
One important aspect of Medina Pasillas’s work with youth is her ability to connect with youth and families. “I am a first generation Mexican American,” she said. “Being not just bilingual but bicultural has allowed me to build bridges with families who are new to the country or who just don’t understand the educational system.”
As a middle school counselor at the Denver Center for 21st Century Learning in Denver Public Schools, Medina Pasillas helps the families understand why it is important to do well in school, what a GPA is, and what sort of education students need to be successful after high school. She can help them because her mother and father also needed help navigating these things when she was a child. “I understand what their experiences are. I really connect with them as people and understand why they came here and how to help them with the next steps.” Being able to communicate with families in a language they can understand is important; but also understanding their culture and therefore motivations and questions, is also very valuable. “This benefits people in our community. I can speak to people who don’t know education so they can hear and understand.”
“School counselors are often identified with roles of giving students career options and helping with college applications,” Medina Pasillas said. “But there is a whole social-emotional side to being a counselor as well. I can take the therapeutic skills I learned at CU Denver and use them to support the social-emotional side of what students need to be successful in school, or to at least feel comfortable at school.”