Two Eden Prairie residents have been appointed to Minnesota state commissions.
Appointed were Gloria Atika, named to the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, and Hernan Moncada, who will serve on the Board of the State Academies for the Deaf and the Blind.
The appointments were made earlier this summer.
Atika was born in Kenya and came to the United States when her father arrived to pursue a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Michigan. She is married with three daughters. She owns two businesses catering to small companies: one, a cleaning service, and the other, an information technology (IT) firm.
“I believe I bring a different perspective and that my background is a good one for what the council strives to do, which is provide a viewpoint of Minnesotans who are African in heritage,” Atika said.
She noted that the council represents all people of African heritage. She will serve a four-year term.
Moncada, who has been legally blind since birth, is an Eden Prairie educator and principal at Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School. Born and raised in Roseville, he is in his ninth year at Eagle Heights and was previously an elementary teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools. He is married with two daughters.
Moncada is one of seven board members for the Minnesota State Academies, which include the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, located in Faribault. His current term runs through mid-2027. The academies are statewide public schools with dormitory options that were founded more than 150 years ago.
“It’s a school run pretty much as one runs a regular school,” Moncada said. “Our role is to advise government offices and academy administrators on proposed and pending legislation … to make certain it serves the current and future students as best as it can.”
There are more than 200 boards, commissions, work groups, and advisory panels that advise state policymakers and regulate government employees.
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