Julio Alas (él/he/him) was born and raised in Denver, CO. He is a DPS alumnus and educator and has been working in the field for the past 10 years. He is the son of Salvadoran immigrants and is a queer, first-genertion college graduate. Julio is currently working as a Community Support Partner in the Denver Public Schools Early Education Department. In this role he provides instructional and operational support to 31 child care agencies that include 51 child care sites across the city of Denver.
Julio graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor’s in 2008 and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2011. His passion to pursue a degree in education started in college when he took a sociology course titled Latino/as in American Society where he uncovered an alarming statistic that Latine/x youth at that time had the highest dropout rate in the U.S. Learning this information was the spark that lit the fire in him to explore and educate himself about this disparity, but more importantly, find ways to positively impact his Latine/x community. Since then Julio has served on leadership boards through University of Denver to mentor BIPOC and first-generation college students, developed programming to expose elementary aged students and their families to the possibilities of a higher education, and pursued a teaching degree to become an early childhood teacher. Since then he has taught ECE-2nd grade in transitional native language instruction, dual language, and Montessori classrooms.
Throughout his time working in public schools, Julio has recognized that the state of education in the U.S. continues to perpetuate opportunity gaps and is the reason why he has continued to learn more about himself and the racist and inequitable systems and policies that cause educational disparities. Thus, some of his passions include learning and teaching about anti-racist and anti-bias education, working with emergent readers and multi language learners, developing and facilitating professional learning with adult learners and coaching student teachers. Through his work and passions, Julio hopes to inspire his community to reconsider what public education can be and co-create more equitable and promising education systems for young children and their families. Julio is a member of Cohort 14 of the Buell Early Leadership Program where he is further developing the capacity to do this important work.
Julio graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor’s in 2008 and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2011. His passion to pursue a degree in education started in college when he took a sociology course titled Latino/as in American Society where he uncovered an alarming statistic that Latine/x youth at that time had the highest dropout rate in the U.S. Learning this information was the spark that lit the fire in him to explore and educate himself about this disparity, but more importantly, find ways to positively impact his Latine/x community. Since then Julio has served on leadership boards through University of Denver to mentor BIPOC and first-generation college students, developed programming to expose elementary aged students and their families to the possibilities of a higher education, and pursued a teaching degree to become an early childhood teacher. Since then he has taught ECE-2nd grade in transitional native language instruction, dual language, and Montessori classrooms.
Throughout his time working in public schools, Julio has recognized that the state of education in the U.S. continues to perpetuate opportunity gaps and is the reason why he has continued to learn more about himself and the racist and inequitable systems and policies that cause educational disparities. Thus, some of his passions include learning and teaching about anti-racist and anti-bias education, working with emergent readers and multi language learners, developing and facilitating professional learning with adult learners and coaching student teachers. Through his work and passions, Julio hopes to inspire his community to reconsider what public education can be and co-create more equitable and promising education systems for young children and their families. Julio is a member of Cohort 14 of the Buell Early Leadership Program where he is further developing the capacity to do this important work.