Amplifying Our Voices: Announcing a Historic Collaboration with Teaching for High Potential
By Hernán Castillo-Hermosilla
Advocacy thrives when our stories are told, our systemic challenges are acknowledged, and our collective successes are commemorated and celebrated. As part of the leadership team for the Special Interest Group (SIG) Rompiendo Barreras/Breaking Down Barriers for Gifted Latine Populations, I am incredibly proud to share an incredible milestone in achieving our ongoing mission to elevate the voices of Latine students, families, and educators within NAGC.
Through a shared commitment to equity and authentic representation, NAGC and Jeff Danielian, the Editor-in-Chief of Teaching for High Potential (THP), have invited our SIG to collaborate on a special issue of the magazine to be published in August 2027. This special issue aims to become a commemoration of the Latine Heritage Month, bringing the profound intersections of giftedness and Latinidad(e) directly to the forefront of our educational discourse.
Stepping into the roles of Guest Editors for this special issue are Debi Torres, Alejandra Fernández Morgado, and myself, Hernán Castillo-Hermosilla. Together, we are designing a publication that moves far beyond surface-level representation.
Our goal as an editorial team is to gather a rich collection of experiences, insights, and reflections drawn directly from advocates of Latine gifted learners in the field across the country and internationally. We will be actively gathering and elevating the perspectives of Latine practitioners, examining specialized gifted services tailored to support Latine students, and unpacking the experiences of our students both inside the classroom and out in their communities.
For too long, the educational needs of Latine gifted learners have required stronger advocacy in the broader conversations surrounding advanced academics. This initiative represents a great opportunity to highlight the immense cultural wealth our Latine communities bring to gifted education. Whether it involves rompiendo barreras del sistema/breaking systemic barriers, rethinking traditional identification practices, or celebrating community-based talent development, this upcoming issue is designed to serve as a practical and useful resource for educators and advocates across the country and the globe.
While we are currently working on the initial phases of this project, it was essential to us that our SIG members and allies were the first to hear the news. We will be sharing more details about this special issue in the coming months. For now, we invite you to celebrate this milestone with us as we prepare to spotlight the brilliance of our Latine community.
Get to know the guest editorial team guiding this upcoming project below:
Debi K. Torres is the director of professional learning and parent connections for the Baylor Talent Identification Program and is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Educational Psychology's Gifted and Talented Program. Debi has an extensive background in gifted education; she is the mother of three gifted sons, a former GT teacher, and a district gifted education coordinator in a large urban district. Debi is an advocate for underserved gifted students, has presented at state and national conferences, was the 2022 TAGT GT Administrator of the Year, and is the primary investigator of a Jacob K. Javits GT grant.
Alejandra Amaris Fernández Morgado, a Cuban American special educator, advocates for equity and access for multilingual, multicultural, and multiply marginalized (M4) learners to advanced education, focusing on their underrepresentation in advanced education, overrepresentation in special education, and Latinx teachers’ working conditions. She has navigated the education system as a student, teacher, and mother, shaped by the challenges of learning English in spaces not designed for M4 learners. She completed her dissertation at Florida International University in Teaching and Learning with a specialization in special education. She serves on NAGC's Rompiendo Barreras Leadership Team and as a guest editor and on the editorial board of the Journal of Advanced Academics. As an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and adjunct faculty at Miami Dade College, she prepares preservice teachers to build inclusive classrooms.
Hernán Castillo-Hermosilla (PhD, MScEd, MPsy) is a Program Coordinator for the SSAT and SSUM programs at the Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute at Purdue University, a former Counseling and Residential Life Coordinator of the SRES program at Purdue, and a former Program Coordinator at Universidad Mayor. He also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Advanced Academics. He has been involved in gifted education since 2011 in diverse roles. Teacher, researcher, curriculum and program designer, and gifted program coordinator in Chile and the US. Hernán aims to bridge gaps between Academia and other societal levels using evidence-based practices to create effective opportunities for gifted and talented students internationally. His research interests include cross-cultural studies, talent development, identification practices, natural language processing, systematic reviews, and mixed-methods.
