Noemi Mendez

Originally born in Mexico City, Noemi moved to the United States at the age of four years old and grew up in Southern California. As a non-traditional student Noemi wanted to better her living conditions by putting herself through school. Noemi moved her family to Iowa and began her studies at Des Moines Area Community College and completed her Bachelor of Science in Education from Drake University, from there on she began her career as an elementary school teacher.  Her love for learning led her to return to school and acquire a master’s in educational literacy to support students from pre-kindergarten to the 12th grade. 

She became a member of the school leadership team and District ELL Facilitator in Harding Middle School. In 2017, Noemi graduated with her specialist in educational leadership and was promoted as the ELL Curriculum Coordinator for Des Moines Public Schools. This work led Noemi to see the need for more work at the elementary level in the area of ELL. Noemi is now currently the Associate Principal at Capitol View Elementary where she began as the lead administrator taking on many challenges and opportunities to learn. 

Noemi is also extremely involved with the community as the Latina Leadership Initiative (LLI) Chair. She is part of a new project called the Latinx Project of Iowa who have been working rigorously to accumulate research on the growing Latino/a/x population in Iowa. She’s been a part of the Community Ambassador Program, CAP, which is a partnership with the DMPD. She recently taught two courses of Language Acquisition and Modern Languages at Grand View University. She enjoys writing children’s fiction books, spending time with her family and traveling when not in a pandemic.