Danna Barrios Gonzalez

Congratulations to Danna Barrios Gonzalez, our February 2021 Rising Star!

Danna was nominated by Tonya Carriker:

"I would like to nominate Danna Barrios Gonzalez for the Rising Star. She is a 6th Grader at Norfolk Middle School in Norfolk, NE. She has always been a strong advocate for herself, but this year she is "rising to the top." She helped the school realize that a face shield plan needed to be implemented for substitute staff and also was not afraid to advocate for herself that she needed something better with the "mask situations." She has learned about the Otter app and used it in a few of her classes to help make learning more accessible. Danna is confident when needing to make sure she can hear. I can always count on her to help mentor peers with a newly identified hearing difference. She recently received the Student of the Month Award for Courage. She was gone from school and zoomed with teachers and when she returned took the initiative to spend the first two days back getting all her missing work caught up. Danna is also using some of her free time at school to learn sign language to better communicate with friends at Nebraska Regional Program Activities!!! Danna is proud of who she is and to self-advocate for herself!"