This Thanksgiving season, Maverick Cares donated Thanksgiving meals for 20 of our Yakima School District Families! We are grateful for their generosity and thoughtfulness this holiday season. We also want to thank our Yakima Police Department for coordinating this effort. We appreciate you!

A.C. Davis Assistant Principal, Jewel Brumley, has worked part-time for the USDA agricultural lab outside of Wapato for 23 years. She is part of the chemical ecology group that studies lure and kill systems for pest insects like moths, beetles, wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets.

Most recently, Brumley has been using a lure made by the Wapato lab to capture murder hornets and trace them back to their nest. In the lab, she uses live murder hornets for pheromone work to make a lure that will bring them in great numbers. Working alongside Brumley is Jacqueline Serrano, the lead entomologist for the chemical ecology group. She is a great chemist and has done a lot of pheromone work with other insects. 

Jessica is a graduate of The University of Tennessee where she received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration majoring in Public Administration and also completing a second major in Spanish. She is currently continuing her education at Texas A&M Corpus Christi working towards an MBA. As a first-generation college student, Jessica has devoted her career, experiences, and education to ensure other students have the best opportunities ahead for their future. 

Spanning across Tennessee and Texas, Jessica has worked in a variety of roles, all focused on supporting schools, students, and families. She worked at the Tennessee Charter School Center coordinating state-level public awareness campaigns, advocacy events, student enrollment initiatives, and talent recruitment events. Jessica transitioned into school operations serving as a Registrar and Compliance Manager and Assistant Principal of Operations. Overseeing transportation, child nutrition, facility maintenance, school technology, attendance, student enrollment, student records, and parental engagement, Jessica has had the opportunity to dive in and problem solve for a variety of school operational challenges. 

Most recently, Jessica worked alongside the team at Families Empowered, a non-profit parent service organization helping families find the best schools for their children. She led all programs, school services, and a multi-city shared application project working to simplify the school application process for over 70,000 families and students. 

Jessica and her husband, Sammy, live in Humble, Texas. They spend lots of their time visiting with family, working on home design projects, and chasing after a very active 3-year-old daughter and 9-month-old son. 

Education Pioneers is a non-profit organization with over 15 years of experience working to attract, develop, and mobilize a diverse network of high potential leaders who bring the capacity needed to solve education’s evolving set of challenges so that education can become a lever for equity and excellence. The COVID Response Fellowship connects senior talent across the country with a district, charter school network, or state education agency where they will provide cabinet-level support to senior leaders as they plan and implement adaptive approaches to evolving public health policies, operational processes, and academic practices while ensuring that schools are providing equitable student learning experiences.