Trustee Board Member

Irene A. Cepeda

Irene Cepeda was elected to the Clark County School Board of Trustees and began her term in 2019. Irene serves the constituents of District D, comprised mainly of the northeast part of the valley. She represents over 60 schools, nearly 50,000 students, and about 300,000 residents.

Irene grew up in North Las Vegas and is a first-generation immigrant and first-generation college graduate. Her parents migrated from Nicaragua and worked very hard to provide her and her sister a better life, her mom as a cook-helper and her dad as a pest-control technician. They set high standards and encouraged academic excellence and extracurricular involvement. Her dad fulfilled every curiosity and her mom made sure she was at every extracurricular. Irene had a great academic experience because of amazing parental support, dedicated teachers, and wrap-around services like GEAR UP and the Latino Youth Leadership Conference. She wants every student to have those same quality opportunities and support systems.

Irene earned a Master in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Latin American Studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has served in multiple capacities at different educational institutions for over a decade. Irene currently works at Nevada State College where she is the director of two Hispanic-Serving Institution grants with the purpose of expanding the teacher pipeline to Latinx populations and other underrepresented populations. Prior to her current position, she managed a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP) grant at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) where she helped low-income students with their career and college journeys. Irene also established a service-learning initiative at CSN where she connected students with service opportunities within the community.

As an advocate of developing youth leadership, Irene chairs the Latino Youth Leadership Foundation which hosts the annual Latino Youth Leadership Conference, one of the longest-
running youth leadership programs in the state. On her free time, Irene enjoys aimless drives, landscape photography, and adventures with her teen, toddler, and the rest of her family and friends!