Retirement is not always easy, especially when you’ve grown to love who you’ve become along the way. English teacher Venetia Rivera has been teaching for 34 years and loves the environment that Alisal brings. Despite this, she feels fulfilled with everything she has achieved in her career and believes it is time for the next chapter of her life.
Rivera’s story dates back to the Philippines, where she was born. Her family would come to visit the U.S. because of her stepfather’s job in a government agency, which consisted of traveling to different countries for job projects. Rivera’s stepfather had family in Rhode Island which allowed them to visit the United States often, but Rivera decided to live here for good when she moved to Ohio and was accepted into Antioch College.
Rivera was really excited about this opportunity. “They were a really great Liberal Arts college and I was very excited because it was a small school and I like small schools,” Rivera said. She attended Antioch for a year and a half before transferring to SUNY New Paltz.
During Christmas break, Rivera decided to visit her family overseas. On the way back from her visit, she decided to stop in New York City. While in New York, she visited SUNY New Paltz, a public university that she decided to attend for a year and a half.
After receiving her English degree at SUNY New Paltz, Rivera visited California for the first time. She fell in love with California and after two years of trying to get her residency, she decided to attend CSU Humboldt for her teaching credential. This was also where she met her husband, former science teacher Steve Rovell.
While he was doing his teaching credential in science, Rivera was doing hers in English. “It was kind of, I wouldn’t say convenient, it was almost meant to be,” Rivera said.
After receiving her teaching credential at CSU Humboldt, she and her husband were trying to look for jobs together. Although they wanted to stay at Humboldt, she knew it was difficult to find a job there. “We were looking for jobs and it’s really difficult to get a job in a small town, which is where Humboldt is,” she said. “Of course, we wanted to continue to live there, but we needed a job so therefore we started going to job fairs. I got offered a job at a middle school in Hollister and he got offered a job at the middle school in Greenfield, that’s when we decided Salinas was a good middle point. So then we moved here,” Rivera said.
Rivera has loved English since college, especially after taking a Shakespeare class. “I really loved English when I was in college. I realized after taking a Shakespeare class, that I really wanted to teach high school students,” Rivera said.
Her high school English class was also a big influence on her wanting to become a teacher. “I feel like I came full circle because when I was a junior in high school, English was my favorite. I don’t know if it was my favorite subject, but I loved American literature and [that’s when] I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Rivera said.
Rivera has been teaching for 35 years total, with one year at Spring Grove Middle School and 34 years at Alisal. Rivera started as a freshman English teacher and has now taught all levels, from ESL (English as a Second Language) to reading, and got to administer the GR CAHSEE, the California High School Exit Exam that used to be given at Alisal High School but was eliminated in 2015.
About 10 years ago, Rivera was asked to teach junior English when she was already beginning to have thoughts of retiring. “I felt like I already fulfilled my duties here, but when I was asked to teach junior English, it was a class I had never taught,” Rivera said.
After teaching for a while, Rivera decided to pursue her master’s online at Grand Canyon University in Curriculum and Instruction. Although it took her some time to accomplish that goal, her reason for waiting so long to do it was that she ended up having children. “I couldn’t teach full time, be a full-time mom, and do a master’s. And so I said and I thought I wasn’t going to achieve that, but then when COVID occurred. I knew we weren’t really going back to school, and my children were much older,” Rivera said.
Rivera’s retirement was nonetheless a decision that she had been thinking about for a while, and her husband’s retirement was also a reason for her departure. “I think it’s time,” she said. “My husband retired two years ago, and it’s time for us to go on adventures. More than
anything, personal growth, and wanting to go on new journeys.” She hopes to go visit her husband’s family’s hometown in Estonia this summer.
Alongside making new adventures with her husband, Rivera is nonetheless going to miss so much from Alisal. “The students are wonderful, and now I just love showing off to the students about how their [test] scores are so high. We went over their last scores and it’s just like, ‘Look what we did, look what you did!’ and what I will really miss is just trying to connect with them on their abilities,” she said. “They are so smart and they don’t know it.”
Rivera’s time at Alisal will forever leave an impact for those who have had her and those who got to know her. This new step for her will make a change in her growth not only to be able to spend more time with her family but as an individual to continue her journey.
