Claire Goudreau, May 14
Thousands of Johns Hopkins University graduate and undergraduate students support the university’s research, initiatives, and services each year as student employees. On April 15, two of these students—senior Dayrin Marquina and PhD student Rodrigo Guerra—were recognized as 2026’s Undergraduate and Graduate Student Employees of the Year, respectively, an award reserved for those who go above and beyond in their roles.
The ceremony also recognized 2026’s Supervisor of the Year, Lorraine Dean, an associate professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Nickolas Lantz, executive director of university experiential learning, congratulated the awardees, noting their contributions to the university.
“One of the most rewarding parts of this work is seeing students grow into confident leaders, researchers, mentors, and professionals through their employment experiences at Hopkins,” he says. “Dayrin and Rodrigo exemplify what is possible when talent, purpose, and opportunity come together, and Lorraine represents the kind of mentorship that helps students truly thrive.”
Dayrin Marquina
Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year
Each year, a dedicated group of Hopkins students mentor local Science Olympiad teams as part of the Charm City STEM League. The mentors dedicated more than 3,250 hours during the 2023–2024 school year, encouraging more than 300 local third through 12th graders to pursue higher education and careers in STEM.
One such mentor was senior Dayrin Marquina. As a CCSL head mentor, Marquina supported the Science Olympiad teams at both Fallstaff Elementary/Middle School and Westport Academy, where she planned weekly STEM activities spanning more than 20 disciplines. She also coached her own peers, leading and training both student volunteers and the program’s new head mentors.
In a letter nominating her for Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year, CCSL Program Administrator Amanda Valledor highlighted Marquina’s dedication, leadership skills, and positive attitude.
“When observing her mentoring sessions, it is easy to see how much she adores working with students of all ages and helping them see themselves as scientists and future engineers,” wrote Valledor. “Most of my student leadership team only support one school due to the amount of work it entails, and yet Dayrin supports two different schools and at different competitive levels because of how passionate she is about our program.”
Community partner Kate McGuire seconded this praise, stressing that Marquina “has gone above and beyond the call of duty many times.”
“She has provided me key advice on dealing with struggling schools,” McGuire wrote. “Dayrin led efforts to support Westport, a school in South Baltimore, that has little support and a change-out of principals. An elementary teacher was running a STEM middle school club because the students had no science teacher and were losing confidence. Dayrin keeps motivating the students to persevere in activities and competing.”
Marquina will graduate later this month with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience.
Read more: https://hub.jhu.edu/2026/05/14/student-employees-supervisor-of-the-year-2026/
