Nora Nickoel Ortega is a first-generation college student, a daughter of immigrants and the youngest of 10 children. Witnessing her migrant farm-working parents struggle to provide for their family and resisting her own culture’s views of the roles of a Hispanic woman, she persevered and fulfilled her desire to become an educated Latina.

Nora Nickoel is now earning her master’s degree in counseling and guidance with a pupil personnel services credential at Cal State San Bernardino. She maintains a 3.97 GPA while serving her campus and community as president of the Counseling Graduate Student Association, as a mentor for the Hope Maker Mentor Program at San Bernardino City Unified School District, and as an adviser for the Educational Talent Search program at Cal State San Bernardino.

Nora Nickoel aspires to pursue a doctoral degree in educational psychology to become a professor at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, with hopes of encouraging students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve ​their educational goals.