Daniel Rodriguez
New Braunfels,TX
Summary
Dedicated program manager with ten years of experience in recruitment, advising, project management, event planning, and data- analysis. Reliable professional passionate about team-building, setting goals, and achieving results. Education, relationships, and professionalism are values that are at the core of my work ethic.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
Work History
Coordinator 2 - Advising
Houston ISD
08.2023 - Current
- Manage a team of 9 college & career advisers and coordinate strategies with each team member and their campus stakeholders to meet department and district metrics that lead students to college, career & military readiness.
- Serve as the Financial Aid lead for the entire district by coordinating workshops, presentations, and application drives that aid advising specialists and counselors with assisting senior class sizes of over 11,000 students with meeting state compliance and receiving millions of dollars in grants and scholarships.
- Planned and promoted college & career planning presentations, work experience programs, and career workshops for our district-wide programs such as Saturday AP Academies and TSI Bootcamps.
- Built and maintained relationships with college admissions offices to create pipelines that would increase student matriculation.
- Provide daily reports and support team members by teaching best practices, analyzing data to maximize student impact, and increasing their campuses' accountability ratings.
- Establishes strong partnerships and collaboration projects with various departments throughout the district to address the specific needs of special populations of students.
College & Career Readiness Manager
Houston ISD- Dept. of College Readiness
06.2021 - 07.2023
- Oversee a team of advisors and lead strategic planning to reach state and departmental goals in financial aid apps, college applications, and total scholarships awarded.
- Lead the financial aid initiative for our entire district by strategizing with high school college readiness managers and organizing workshops and programming to ensure every high school reaches our 85% goal of financial aid submission with a total class size of over 11,500 seniors.
- Manage the Wings/ALAS Program aimed to support Latinx and immigrants' students across the district make a successful transition towards their post-secondary pathway. Using a cohort model, the Wings/Alas program is designed to mentor, support, and uplift historically underserved students at participating schools.
- Implement districtwide college-bound culture initiatives and programs and serving as district representative with community, local and state organizations.
- Create virtual and in-person events for parents and student grade levels 9th -12 grade that provides information on college application processes and financial aid.
- Developed and tracked metrics to measure the effectiveness of college and career readiness initiatives
College & Career Readiness Advisor
Houston ISD - Dept of College Readiness
08.2016 - 05.2021
- Provided advising to unique student population of low-income, underserved communities, as well as college counseling, recruitment, explaining post-secondary options, financial literacy, and giving guidance through various application processes.
- Lead college readiness professional assisting senior classes ranging from 300-500 seniors through the college application process, financial aid, and scholarships.
- Researched immigration statuses, review visas, and connect with community partners to better serve and meet the needs of our high immigrant student and family population.
- Serve as the lead point of contact of the school’s college center, responsible for organizing community and university programs and fairs
Education
Graduate Certificate - Human Resource Management
University of Houston - Downtown
Houston, TX12-2026
Bachelor of Science - Bioenvironmental Science
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX12-2013
Skills
- Project Management
- Team Development
- Human Resource Management
- Program Management
- Data Analysis
- Proficient in Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Zoom
- Salesforce Experience
Affiliations
- National College Attainment Network (NCAN)- FAFSA User Group - Participate in a group of representatives from various districts and CBOs throughout the US, with reviewing all aspects of the recent FAFSA simplification legislation, identifying challenges and/or issues that may need to be addressed and sent to the Department of Education, and providing feedback that would make the application user-friendly for all students and parents.
- Wings/Alas Program: Managed 10 advisors, over 14 high schools, with a cohort of over 200 seniors, who supported immigrant & undocumented students with securing $4,071,242 in state grants and scholarships. In total, advisers provided 1,155 advising sessions and input 2,065 notes.
- Financial Aid Squad Manager: Managed a team and coordinated workshops and events to support class sizes of over 11,000 seniors every year in completing the financial aid graduation requirement for Houston ISD.
- Copilot Texting Manager: Lead a committee of 8 managers/advisors in providing personalized messaging and reports for all grade levels 9th -12th through the Salesforce platform.
- Dream Summit: Co-led a committee of 22 managers/advisors in constructing our annual conference that attracted 300-400 students and families, 130 college & community partners, and various law firms.
Timeline
Coordinator 2 - Advising
Houston ISD
08.2023 - Current
College & Career Readiness Manager
Houston ISD- Dept. of College Readiness
06.2021 - 07.2023
College & Career Readiness Advisor
Houston ISD - Dept of College Readiness
08.2016 - 05.2021
Graduate Certificate - Human Resource Management
University of Houston - Downtown
Bachelor of Science - Bioenvironmental Science
Texas A&M University