Alliyah is a dedicated nonprofit leader, administrator, and community advocate with over twenty-five years of experience. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Biology from the University of Colorado and a J.D. in Natural Resources Law from Lewis and Clark Law School. As the child of an immigrant who came to the United States seeking educational opportunities, Alliyah attributes much of her success to her father’s encouragement and the inspiring relationship she had with her high school mentor. These experiences fuel her passion for supporting and mentoring young people as they forge pathways for their own futures. In her free time, Alliyah enjoys cuddling with her furbabies, attending live music events, and exploring the great outdoors through gardening, skiing, and hiking. Carolina grew up in Santa Fe and holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. As a Mexican immigrant, Carolina personally understands the obstacles that immigrant youth in our community are still facing today. This has inspired her to pursue a career helping high school students find their place and purpose. In her spare time, Carolina can be found reading, hiking, and pursuing Don Quijote. Noehmi was raised in the humid environment of Kansas City. In 2010, her family decided to relocate to Santa Fe, and she has since considered New Mexico her home. Noehmi is completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences at The University of New Mexico and plans on graduating December 2024. She aspires to help students make their college and career dreams a reality and to provide support to parents as their own children plan their path in life. During her leisure time, Noehmi indulges in listening to crime podcasts, reading books, or engaging in outdoor activities with her son. Karina was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Portland in December 2023. Since high school, Karina has been passionate about giving back to her community and knew she wanted to help students in New Mexico, though she wasn’t initially sure how. After graduating college, Karina discovered that the most meaningful way she could make an impact was by helping students identify and achieve their goals. As a first-generation college student, she has firsthand experience navigating the challenges and uncertainties of the college application process. This perspective drives her mission to help students transition out of high school as seamlessly as possible. In her free time, Karina enjoys snuggling with her pup and spending quality time with family. Summer grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and returned after graduating from college to give back to her community. During college, she worked as a tutor and spent her summers teaching at a local nonprofit. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Growing up as a first generation student, Summer often had questions relating to applying to college and was grateful for the help she received from different teachers/programs. This has inspired her to pursue a career in college access and provide support to students who are beginning to navigate a confusing and exciting time in their lives. When she is not working, summer enjoys spending time with her dogs, hanging out with her friends or going to local coffee shops.Staff
Alliyah Noor, Executive Director
alliyah@collegecareerplaza.org
Carolina Tavarez, Site Coordinator and College Access Lead
Monte del Sol Charter School
carolina@collegecareerplaza.org
Text or call 505-819-9567
Noehmi Salazar, Site Coordinator and Youth Careers Lead
Capital High School
noehmi@collegecareerplaza.org
Text or Call 505-819-9142
Karina Peña, Site Coordinator
Santa Fe High School
karina@collegecareerplaza.org
Text or Call: 505-819-1494
Summer Romero, Site Coordinator
Santa Fe Indian School
summer@collegecareerplaza.org
Text or call 505-372-9672
Board of Directors
Judy Reinhartz, President
Judy Reinhartz, PhD. Judy is Professor Emeritus and retired administrator at The University of Texas at El
Paso. Her career over the past five decades has been filled with great diversity and creative experiences. Also, as a professor and administrator at The University of Texas at Arlington, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses for pre/in-service teachers and principals, and was the recipient of several awards, including The University Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She entered the field of education as a STEM elementary teacher and then went on to teaching high school. She continues to be a staff developer, researcher, grant writer, and presenter. These roles have propelled her enthusiasm for meeting new challenges and following paths to find their solutions.
Lorissa Garcia, Vice President
Lorissa Garcia is a passionate advocate and supporter of native education, college and career pathways, and academic success for native students. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Applied Indigenous Studies from Northern Arizona University and most recently received a M.Ed. in Higher Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 2026-2020, Lorissa served as President of the Pueblo of Acoma Board of Education where she worked to set policy and direction for the development, implementation, and access to quality services through the Department of Education for the people of the Pueblo of Acoma. She is currently the Career and Internship Director at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), where she assists students with internship placements, provides career guidance, oversees the work study program, and the IAIA learning lab.
Ted Lapres, Treasurer
Ted moved to Santa Fe in 2022 after living for over 35 years in Massachusetts with his wife Connie and three children; settling in the town Connie was raised. He was a long term executive at a multinational manufacturing firm (Nypro Inc), serving as CFO and CEO among other roles. Ted served on a number of boards in the past couple decades, including the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts, Groton Conservation Trust, Social Venture Partners Boston and the Museum of Russian Icons. Ted also volunteered for several years helping Bottom Line, a national non-profit whose mission is “to help first generation students get into college, graduate and get on a career path”. This work inspired him to join the College & Career Plaza board and help them continue to scale their programs.
Leah Gardner, Secretary
Leah is native New Mexican who transplanted to the West Coast in 2000 and recently returned home to the Land of Enchantment. After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she earned dual degrees in Politics and Theatre Arts, she attended the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco. Much of her professional career has been in the arts and entertainment industry where she has worked as a director, stage manager, house manager, teacher, and events coordinator. Before leaving the Bay Area, Leah developed and launched a three-and-a-half-hour immersive theatrical event in San Francisco called, The Speakeasy. In her free time, Leah can be found cooking, hiking and playing board games with her partner, Megan. She is an avid reader and plant lover. Her perfect day would include a long hike and a delicious meal.
Mónica Martínez-Archuleta
Mónica Martínez-Archuleta is a native of northern New Mexico. Born in El Rito, growing up in Cañon de Vallecitos, and a graduating from Mesa Vista High School, she understands the hardships many students face as they make decisions to pursue college or careers outside of their
communities. She persisted and earned her Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with a
focus on rural education from the University of New Mexico. Mónica is committed to centering
the whole-child in a learning environment that allows for recognizing that the communities they come from hold rich experiences. All children come with knowledge and understanding of the world that others may not have, through lived experience. It is through her work with the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Community Partnerships Office that Martinez-Archuleta demonstrates her commitment to develop a profound understanding of leadership for learning and transformation.
Diane Garcia Piro
Diane is a retired educator of with over 27 years of experience in both K-12 and higher education. During her tenure with Santa Fe Public Schools she served as the district director for career education, where she worked to create curriculum and programs from elementary through post-secondary levels. The highlight of this position was creating the first career centers at both SFHS and CHS in partnership with the Department of Workforce Solutions. She ended her career in administration as a middle school principal, where career related programming played a key role. Currently Diane is the owner of Organized Space by Diane in Santa Fe.
Linda Zingle
Linda Zingle spent her professional career educating both young and old students. She was a Certified Financial Planner focused on ways to reduce risk and achieve balance in financial life. During her career she became involved in fundraising for the United Way of Indian River County, Florida and decided that volunteering was the best job in the world. She now serves on several boards in Santa Fe trying to help improve the lives of people in our special community..