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Jarell Green: Nurse turned Education Advocate

March 14, 2023

Jarell is a Counselor for the McNair and Student Support Services programs at the First-Generation Student Center at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Jarell Green is a TRIO Student Support Services alumnus from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). As an SSS student, Jarell completed his Bachelor’s degree in nursing while earning local and national recognition. His academic success and community involvement led to him being named a prestigious Pearson Prize National Fellow. Upon graduating from the nursing program, the faculty, and his peers awarded him the honor of being a top nursing student.

While completing his Intensive Care Unit experience (Neurosurgical, Trauma, and Cardiac) in pursuit of nursing anesthesiology, Jarell felt conflicted about his career choice. He kept thinking about how fortunate he was to transcend his childhood circumstances due to individuals integral in his journey, including the TRIO professionals who helped him. Jarell decided to leave nursing to earn his Master of Arts in Education degree and work with low-income first-generation students at a Title 1 STEM middle school. There his students thrived, and he led initiatives such as how to be social change agents and receiving grant funding. This resulted in NV Energy financing the renovation of the school’s dilapidated lighting to make it more sustainable. In 2017, he was invited to give the opening speech at the annual Washoe County School District Superintendent’s annual State of Education address. In 2018, Jarell became the first counselor of the new Upward Bound Math & Science project at the University of Nevada, Reno. He spent five years leading his grant to exceed all federally mandated objectives there. The successes of his UBMS students were numerous, and in 2022 he was awarded a Washoe Education Association Influential Educator award. In 2023, he moved to the counselor role for the McNair and TRIO (SSS) Scholars programs at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was awarded a WESTOP TRIO Achiever’s Award in February 2023.

Jarell also works to produce a systemic change in his community by serving as a member of the first-ever City of Sparks Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Although new, the Advisory Board has already made progress in initiatives such as proclaiming a City of Sparks Hispanic Heritage Month and developing an assessment to make local governmental jobs more equitable and accessible to diverse populations. He has also worked on and spoken at initiatives such as the Northern Nevada Black Male Empowerment Rally to advocate for racial and social injustice.

Jarell is married to his high school sweetheart and has two sons and a daughter on the way.