Martín Da Costa

Born in Uruguay, Martín Da Costa moved to the near Southwest side of Chicago to start 5th grade. Due to not knowing any English, Martín had to be pulled out to receive ESL services. As an ESL student, Martín experienced first-hand the inequities within our educational system: low expectations, exposure to below grade-level and lack of access to advanced academics, inadequate facilities and many other injustices. Currently Martín serves as the Proud Principal at Winston Campus Jr High in Palatine, IL, a title 1 school of 800 students serving students in 7th and 8th grades in the suburbs of Chicago. 69 percent of students identify as Latinx and 67 percent qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. Martín is a ’12 Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana TFA alum, a 2015 Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Education Leadership and the 2021 Golden Apple Award in Leadership recipient as Illinois top school leader.