Science teaches us many things about the world that we live in – its laws, nature, and current conflicts. By next year, NGS will go away and be replaced by biology and chemistry. “The next generation of science standards are here to stay,” NGS 2 teacher Azucena Yzquierdo said. “I think it would be great because a lot of schools in California are following the three-course model (taking three years of science).”
Yzquierdo was born in Salinas, California, and went to Alisal High School. She attended Chico State for three years, as a psychology major and returned to Hartnell College. “I came back because I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do,” Yzquierdo said.
During her time at Hartnell, she ended up deciding to major in physics and then finished her undergraduate degree at Channel Islands. Yzquierdo did her graduate studies at Loyola Marymount (a two-year program) and got her teaching credentials and Masters.
She is currently undertaking another program at San Diego State (administrator’s credential program). “I would like to step out of the classroom and support students, teachers, and staff in a different role to foster an inclusive and diverse school where multiple voices are valued and used to make important decisions that impact the culture of the school,” said Yzquierdo.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to be growing up, but teaching was not part of her plan. “I always avoided the profession itself, I never thought I would become an educator but I just kind of fell into it,” Yzquierdo said. “When I was doing my undergraduate, I did a lot of educational outreach. I worked with a lot of elementary, middle school, and high school kids.”
Later, her supervisor referred her to work for a science-educating nonprofit organization, where she worked with middle school and high school students indirectly.
This led to her working for Hartnell as a K-12 stem coordinator, she supported a program called “Intro to Coding,” which allowed her to work with a lot of elementary schools in the area. “My job was to ensure that I had a record of all the students who were going to participate in the program,” she said. “The goal was to introduce kids to these STEM professions so they could be curious and explore and hopefully gain an interest in science.”
She moved to Los Angeles to experience living in a big city and began her teaching career. “I thought my previous job was too easy, I wanted to be challenged and I wanted to see what it would be like to step into a classroom,” Yzquierdo said.
She taught physics for two years at a charter school district named “Green Dot.” “That was a wonderful experience, I taught physics to ninth graders,” Yzquierdo said. “It was completely smaller, so the entire school could only serve about 530 students, smaller buildings and fewer resources,” She then transitioned to teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District and worked for a school just as big as Alisal for three years.
After 5 years, Yzquierdo decided to return to Salinas and teach at Alisal. “I wanted to move closer to home and be home for a bit,” she said. “I feel it’s cool because I am here at a different capacity and I get to see differently now that I am here from a teacher’s lens, it is cool that I get to come back to the community that I came from.”
Only one teacher remains from her years as a student, “One of my math teachers was Mr. Mata and I took calculus (with him),” she said. “He also calls me punk.”
She is very well-liked amongst her peers. “She is great, she is very friendly and puts in a good effort to the group and offers up really good ideas,” science teacher Lucy Lynn said. “She is always there to help us out when we need help, she is a very good colleague; whenever I need help I know I can always ask her for help,”
This is her first time teaching science to sophomores, “It’s a fun age to teach, they aren’t freshmen, so they have more maturity but aren’t juniors and seniors either, so the lengths are a little bit different,” she said.
Yzquierdo is also well-liked by her students, “Ms. Y is a great teacher, she gives us a lot of guidance, and she likes to make us ask ourselves about things so we can understand better,” sophomore Jonathan Lara said. “She is very welcoming and she is a good listener, she communicates with us and is always there to answer our questions,” sophomore Yeraldin Hernandez said.
Yzquierdo has two goals currently, “(I want to be) making sure that science is accessible to everyone,” Yzquierdo said. “Science is not too hard, it doesn’t matter how smart you think you are, it is accessible to you.” She wants to get back to teaching physics for next year.
Teaching isn’t the only thing Yzquierdo does, she enjoys running and even practices for marathons. “I enjoy it, it is challenging, mentally and physically,” she said. “You are training your mind to think ‘I am just taking one more step.’” Her first marathon was the Honolulu Marathon with a time of six hours and thirty-two minutes. She is currently injured but hopes to recover by summer for the San Francisco marathon.
Now that she is back to Alisal, she sees the improvements from when she was a student. “You guys have a lot of resources, one of the resources that we didn’t have when we came here was being able to stay after school and get support from our teachers,” Yzquierdo said. “The extended learning that you guys get, almost every subject is expected to be here after school, at least one day a week so you guys have that additional support which is cool.”
