Please join us today - Friday July 29 - at 10 a.m. at Waterbury City Hall as we honor Adela Jorge-Nelson as our 2016 Puerto Rican Mayor for the Day.

Brooklyn, N.Y. born, Ms. Jorge-Nelson moved with her family to Ponce, P.R., shortly after her birth before moving to Waterbury when she was 10. She flourished in Waterbury, achieving success in the Waterbury Public Schools as a bilingual student. She went on to win scholarships and be named to the prestigious National Honor Society.

She attended the University of Connecticut, where she was Dean’s List student, earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology and was a member of Connecticut’s first Latino sorority, Beta Sigma Alpha. Soon after graduation, she began her career as a bilingual educator in the Waterbury Public School System. She was able to use her experiences as a bilingual student to create safe spaces for her students to learn and fostered classroom practices that allowed her students to develop a lifelong love for learning. She also earned advanced degrees in education and educational leadership while teaching.

In 2004, she became vice principal of Bucks Hill Elementary School, and three years later was promoted to Supervisor of Bilingual Education/ESOL Education Department for the Waterbury Public School System. She has distinguished herself as a student and as a professional educator. But her most important job is being the mother of her three children, Jordan Ward, Uzziah Nelson Jr., and Amina J. Nelson.

Please join us in honoring this great woman and her heritage.