Rafa Abrego, an emotional intelligence advocate and educator, is the recipient of the 2022 Marvin Maurer award for his excellence in international communication and implementation of RULER. Rafa holds an M.B.A. and degree in computer science. Although he will tell you that his professional training has nothing to do with emotional intelligence, he also will say that RULER has changed his life and the lives of the students with which he works.
Rafa is the Director of Innovation and Student Life at Tecnológico de Monterrey in México. He was introduced to RULER and began integrating the approach into his personal and professional life seven years ago. Around this time, Rafa experienced a tremendous loss a of a friend to suicide. Through this experience, he became engaged in creating an environment at PrepaTec where students and educators has permission to feel supported by a common language around emotions.
RULER is a Lighthouse
In the wake of the pandemic, leadership at PrepaTec recognized the importance of preserving the reputation of their high-performing schools while administering to the social and emotional needs of students and their families. Rafa was instrumental in ensuring that the skills, tools, and principles of emotional intelligence were accessible to 35 high schools 27,000 students, and 300 educators in the PrepaTec system.
High Tech, High Touch
With many events being virtual, Rafa and our other 2022 Marvin Maurer Award winners received their awards in the mail. All of our award recipients described receiving the award to be a humbling experience. Rafa explained his experience in ways only an expert in RULER would be able to do, in terms of his emotional journey around the Mood Meter.
Receiving the Marvin Maurer Award
Rafa acknowledges that the work with RULER is never done. When asked about his goals for the future, he explained looking forward to a day when RULER can be accessible to all schools, both private and public, in México. As RULER reaches schools across the globe, leaders can turn to people like Rafa who have had great success in creating awareness and opportunities.