María Nicole Bolaños is a rising senior at Brown University concentrating in Education Policy. Due to her experiences in both the public and charter school systems as a first-generation, low-income Latina, she is particularly interested in school reform policies focused on the school-to-prison pipeline, closing the racial and economic achievement gaps, and increasing teacher quality and their retention within schools. She has previously interned with the Annenberg Institute at Brown University in which she worked with student absenteeism data from the San Francisco Public School District in order to better understand the potential impacts of student-teacher race match on student outcomes and absence rates within schools. Maria also served as a research assistant in the Education department, conducting research that analyzed the effects of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam on student outcomes. Originally from Los Angeles, California, she enjoys hiking, leisurely reading, and binge-watching documentaries. Upon graduation, Maria plans to pursue her Master’s degree in Education in order to further her passion for policy reform and equity within the flawed American education system.