In honor of Alisal’s 60th Anniversary, this is the 12th  in an ongoing series of staff/alumni profiles.

Oftentimes, deciding your career can seem scary because of uncertainty. This was the case with freshman English teacher Stephanie Castro. Teaching was not immediately in her interests and she initially pursued a path in speech and hearing sciences. Castro never guessed that she would be back at Alisal working with people who were once her former teachers.

Castro graduated in 2010, the last class to have their graduation ceremony to be held at Sherwood Hall. “Alisal graduations at Sherwood Hall always seemed more formal, especially considering that all the other high schools had theirs outdoors,” she said. “I think it’s pretty special that the class of 2010 was the last class to graduate there because it marked the end of an era, both in the sense of tradition and numbers (end of a decade too).”

After graduation, she went to Hartnell for 2 years, then she transferred to San Diego  State, where she got her B.A. in Speech Language Hearing sciences. 

She was trying to be a speech therapist, but ended up becoming an English teacher. “I decided to become a teacher after subbing for 2 years,” she said. “I came back to Salinas and started subbing. While subbing I was given a lot of long term assignments and that’s when I realized that I enjoyed being in the classroom working with students. That is what made me go back to school and pursue my teaching credential, and since I was going back to school, I figured I might as well get my master’s too, so that is what I did.”

She returned to Alisal in 2019. She started teaching ELD in every grade and working with former teachers like Mr. Battaglini and Ms. Albano. 

While she said it was cool being back, it was also weird. “When Ms Albano asked me to call her by her first name it caught me off guard,” she said.

Castro is in her 6th year at Alisal, and she has found a lot of things she likes about her job. ”Just interacting with students, being invited to their events,” she said “I like helping students gain confidence, and making them feel seen.” 

She enjoys watching her students grow and seeing them succeed. “To this day, I think about one student I had–she had so much anxiety that she would go home during lunch every day because she was scared of socializing with others.” Castro said, “Little by little she started spending more time on campus, and then I found out she was going to be in the school play-in front of many people!” She watched the play and was very proud to see her confident and performing in front of others.

Although a lot has stayed the same at Alisal, there is one major difference: technology. “Students are able to access material with ease; teachers don’t have to spend additional time making copies for students; because most work is done online, grading can be done from anywhere,” she said. With all the ease there is also a drawback: “Some students are relying too much on AI- they’ve become lazy because they know they can easily get the answers online and  they aren’t putting thought and effort into their work.”

As to why she came back, it’s simple, “This [Alisal] is my second home,” Castro said. “I feel like I spend more time at Alisal than my actual home.” 

She enjoys the support of colleagues and admin, even the students. With her accepting and welcoming personality, she hopes to make fun memories that students will look back on. “During my time here I’ve learned a lot from my students and I’ve also learned that no two days are the same, and I love that.”