(MILWAUKEE)— Ana Báez, a bilingual school counselor at Milwaukee Public Schools’ South Division High School, has been recognized as the 2026 Wisconsin School Counselor of the Year by the Wisconsin School Counselor Association (WSCA). She was recognized at a school assembly on Tuesday, October 21.
This award recognizes a school counselor who leads a data-driven, comprehensive school counseling program that fosters academic achievement, social-emotional growth, and career readiness for all students. The individual advocates fiercely for subgroups of students who face barriers to opportunity, ensuring that every learner has access to the resources, support, and encouragement needed to succeed.
Báez was also the Wisconsin Teacher of the Year in 2024 and was selected as Wisconsin’s 2025 National Teacher of the Year representative by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius was in attendance along with Milwaukee Board of School Directors member Mimi Reza, Wisconsin School Counselor Association Executive Director Stacy Eslick, Báez family members, and South Division educators and students.
Ana’s nominator, School Counselor Dulce Bucio-Rosas, stated, “Last year, Ana set a student outcome goal focused on reducing failure rates for 9th graders, a critical subgroup with historically high academic struggles. Data showed that nearly 47% of incoming freshmen were on track to fail at least one course as indicated on their mid semester progress report.
“Ana collaborated with City Year, the 9th-grade team teachers, the parent coordinator, the social work team, and administration to implement targeted interventions, including: after-school tutoring run by City Year; one-on-one ACP conferences involving students and families; letters home to parents; personal invitations to conferences; social work home visits; and in-class touch points by teachers. It was a coordinated team effort to provide maximum intervention following the school’s motto, ‘Shoulder to Shoulder.’ “
As part of the process, data was collected on the number of interventions each student had, the kind of intervention, and final failure rate. The results for the 2024–2025 semester 1 data included:
- Started with 118 of 247 total freshmen having one or more failing grades
- Ended with 81 freshmen with one or more failing grades
- This reduced the overall freshman failure rate from 47% to 33%
- This is a 31% decrease in the total number of freshmen failing.
Báez also identified financial barriers facing immigrant students and led efforts to secure 18 years of guaranteed scholarships, funded through local fundraising, Herb Kohl Fellowship contributions, and community support. This sustainable scholarship fund has already opened doors for students who would otherwise lack access to higher education. Bucio-Rosas stated, “Ana has established strong relationships with local restaurants and businesses to lead fundraising efforts that sustain the Counseling Scholarship Fund.”
Báez will be recognized as the 2026 Wisconsin School Counselor of the Year in November at the WSCA Annual Conference in Wisconsin Dells.
WSCA will forward Báez to be considered for the national 2027 ASCA School Counselor of the Year award. Báez will also represent Wisconsin during the ASCA School Counselor of the Year celebration in February 2027.
