Michigan Newcomer Summit 2025

Laura Gardner

Founder & CEO

Immigrant Connections

Laura has 20 years of experience working in education, refugee resettlement, and social work. While in education, she worked as a district level manager for immigrant family and community engagement as well as a school social worker. Laura also worked for Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services (BRYCS) managing their national technical assistance initiative to federal Refugee School Impact Grantees. Laura has facilitated professional development on building the capacity of teachers and school systems to engage immigrant families in their children’s education, language access, cultural competency, equity, unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant family reunification, and refugee resettlement. Laura holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Education. Laura founded Immigrant Connections in 2017.

• 9:00 - 10:00 AM, Jul 31, 2025 Big Ten A

  Welcome and Keynote Address

Dr. Carol Salva

Consultant

Seidlitz Education

Dr. Carol Salva is an author and award winning educator with proven success working with under-schooled, multilingual learners classified as SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education) or ELD (English Language Development) students. Carol routinely works with EL program leaders to support their educators in effective yet practical ways.
Dr. Salva is a Seidlitz Education consultant and a former elementary, middle and high school teacher. She lives with her husband and three children in Texas.

• 2:15 - 3:30 PM, Jul 31, 2025 Big Ten A

  Seidlitz Presents: An Endnote Presentation by Dr. Carol Salva