LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Dayami Borges was nominated by her principal, Martha T. Jaureguizar.

Ms. Borges is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and generous school/community leaders that Jaureguizar has had the privilege of working with for the past nine years. She was a dedicated special education teacher for very fragile populations for several years. Later, she transitioned to an amazingly gifted media specialist, serving MDCPS for a total of nineteen years. Her professional and personal schedule is monumentally interwoven with family, work, leadership responsibilities, and volunteerism. All of these duties are carried out with tremendous pride and compassion that is indicative of her ability to foster excellence in all she does. 

Ms. Borges seldom misses a day of work and boasts an impressive attendance and performance record. She was recognized last year with a special recognition from the Florida Department of Education as a “Florida High Impact Teacher,” for her ability to demonstrate improvement in her students’ standardized scores for two consecutive years.

Throughout her career, Ms. Borges has served as an inspirational teacher for emotionally/mentally-handicapped students, a Special Olympics coach, Web Site and School App Manager, Gradebook Manager, Book Fair and Technology Walk-a-Thon Coordinator, Co-Teacher, Co-Chairperson for cultural performances, KLE volunteer and Technology Department Chairperson. For the past three years, she has also demonstrated tremendous initiative in spearheading the TIGERS Robotics Team.

Although her school is only in their third year of using this innovative program (VEX IQ), they demonstrated an incredible surge in competitive performance, winning at district and state-level competitions and qualifying for the World Championships. For a financially-supported school, these incredible opportunities have been able to open tremendously influential new doors of experiences and opportunities that the students would never have imagined.

Ms. Borges is a master of mixed media and has mentored all of the teachers through critical digital resources and new software. She develops unique lessons, integrating technology aligned to academic standards in her library SmartBoard area or Media Center lab. She has been Jaureguizar's right hand person for the Technology Incentive Program and has helped her school make progress towards becoming a technology academy school. Ms. Borges has also been extensively involved in the mentoring program as a result of her proven expertise. She assists teachers with using SmartBoards/Promethean Boards to prioritize continuous improvement of the school environment through the T.I.G.E.R.S. (Technology & Innovation Generate Excellence in Rigorous Studies) Academy.

Ms. Borges trains parents regularly throughout the year on the use of the portal, and brings an awareness of various resources to parents and their children. She is a fierce fundraiser who works tirelessly to enable students to participate in the extensive competitions for the TIGERS Robotics Team. This year, they expanded to two teams in order to increase these unique experiences to even younger students.

"Ms. Borges’ tradition of exemplary performance has only grown, having been selected as the 1997 District’s Runner-Up for Rookie-Teacher-of-the-Year and our nominee for Teacher-of-the-Year in 2015," Jaureguizar said. "This amazing lady is an exceptional educational leader who demonstrates superior teaching skills and has a deep devotion to all children. She is committed to her own professional development as seen in her advanced degrees, training record, and incredible student achievement honors. Throughout her career, she has been awarded numerous recognitions for her work, and her colleagues and students have also been blessed to profit from her abilities. She is an excellent role model and is always willing to assist in any way, to support KLE’s stakeholders."

Ms. Borges can regularly be seen volunteering her time in the mornings, working with the morning news crew teaching them how to use a Tricaster system that is normally reserved for high school level and professional broadcast units. She also practices for school musical shows, gathers and shares school data to recognize the top performing students, organizes certificates/trophies for programs, and tweets out school news. In an effort to brighten and inspire her school family, she has worked with parents and the art teacher to create a gorgeous Media Center with murals and displayed student work. 

"We are blessed to have such a true leader and special individual," Jaureguizar said. "As a Title 1 school with large ELL and special needs subgroups, her leadership has been a catalyst for our 18th overall ranking out of 176 schools. Her legacy will live on beyond these huge accomplishments, as the true impact of her presence is genuinely heartfelt. I cannot overly stress just what an asset Ms. Borges is to the KLE family and many others within our community. She is truly a LifeChanger for so many. For as talented and compassionate as she is, her strongest attribute is her ability to consistently put others first."