Ms. Monica Gonzalez has taken on the College and Career center at McClatchy, replacing Ms. Jessica Kunisaki, who is now working as a counselor at California Middle School. Ms. Gonzalez is from Salinas, a small farming town near Monterey. She attended U.C. Davis, and majored in Native American Studies and Chicano Studies.
Ms. Gonzalez found herself at McClatchy because she was looking for work straight out of school and wasn’t completely satisfied with any of the jobs she was finding. She previously worked for 4 years at a center that was based entirely on working with underrepresented minority communities, to help people within them get into higher education and stay there. Ms. Gonzalez knew she wanted to work hands on and help students again with her new job. When she heard about the position in the College and Career Center, she knew it was what she wanted.
McClatchy’s College and Career Center offers all your college needs from applying to UCs, private schools, community colleges, and state schools, to SATS and filling out the FAFSA financial aid form. Ms. Gonzalez is there to help with the process. The center also offers skills assessments, work permits, career planning, and 4- year plans. Ms. Gonzalez is trying to bring in freshman, “to start them off early and get them thinking about what they want to do, and how they are going to reach that goal.” The 4-year plan is centered on that idea of helping students achieve their goals. She is also there for seniors to help with the application process in general because she knows it is a stressful time.
Ms. Gonzalez’s goal for this year is to diversify the College and Career Center and to bring in everybody from 9th grade to 12th grade, regardless of whether or not they think they are going to college. She wants to help “students that have no idea to students whose families have been in college for generations.”
Ms. Gonzalez’s advice for students is that there are so many paths to higher education and they shouldn’t give up. She says that some students “start off really badly their freshman and sophomore years and think they can’t make a comeback, but they definitely can. Junior and senior year are the years that colleges look at most, and if you show that you are on a positive slope it is really exciting for college admissions officers.” Also, Ms. Gonzalez wants to let students know that even if they haven’t done well at all in high school, there are still options. She feels like a lot of students think they have no more chances, but wants them to know “it is not the end of the world. There are so many possibilities for higher education.” She says, “Students should come talk to me for help.”