Counselors give it their all when it comes to the students they are managing, like providing them support mentally and directing them towards the resources to help with those issues. Additionally, they help students every step of the way when staying on track to graduate, giving aid with colleges and providing other resources to set us up for success further down the road. 

Guadalupe Gamez is an alumni and current counselor, which gives her an edge to support her students and guide them to a higher level of education.

Gamez was born and raised in Salinas, California, spending the majority of her life on the Eastside. She graduated from Alisal in 2006 spending most of her high school years on her academics and sports. “I took AP courses like government, economics, English, and calculus,” Gamez said. “I also played basketball for four years, so I would say I was very focused on my academics because Coach Battaglini was always on us to have good grades and attend tutorials.”

She played basketball for four years and contributed to the M.B.L undefeated girls’ basketball championship her junior year. “Oh man, it was awesome because the last year that Alisal had won the same championship was in 1997,” Gamez said. 

Going against Alisal’s toughest opponents, Seaside, she mentions how they only won by a few points. “It was something huge because Seaside was really tough to beat,” she said. 

“We were up by 10 going into the 4th quarter and we lost the lead with under 2 minutes left in the game,” former coach Mick Battaglini said. “She got fouled when we were down by 3 and made both free throws.” Battaglini said Gamez came up big in overtime, scoring 6 points and helping the Trojans take home the victory.

 “I had a lot of fun in high school,” Gamez said. “I made great friends and even after 20 years we are still friends.” She graduated in 2006 and soon after attended Hartnell community college for two years where she graduated with her Associates of Arts in liberal studies. “My dad knew I was not mature enough to go to university,” Gamez said. “I had an emphasis in political science ever since I took Mr. Pizarro’s class and it grew an interest in me.” 

Soon after graduating from Hartnell she transferred to UC Santa Barbara where she studied political science and earned her Bachelors of Arts. 

“My parents started working at a very young age so my main goal was to go to school, earn an education and be the first person in my family to go to university,” Gamez said. “I didn’t know what to do after college. I realized that law school was not for me, but I loved being around people.” 

For that reason Gamez began looking into working with kids. She started working for an after school program at Dr. Oscar F. Loya elementary school where she realized she loved working with kids. “I loved it so much, so I started teaching 5th grade for 2 years, but then I realized that it wasn’t for me,” she said. 

Gamez decided to instead look into becoming a counselor, where she’d be able to work with all different grade levels and not just one particular group. She went back to school and got her masters in counseling at UMass Global University. 

Although things took a turn during 2021, the start of COVID never gave her the opportunity to work with middle and high school students. “I had to do 600 hours for my training but because of COVID, they allowed me to do all my hours at the elementary level,” Gamez said. “So I never had that experience working with older kids.” 

Once she finished her master’s program, she left for Europe for a month to celebrate her new accomplishment. A month after her trip she received the news of a counseling position opening at Alisal High School. “I was at elementary level for almost 12 years, so I was really nervous, but I went ahead and applied,” Gamez said. Within months of her interview she got the news that she was hired.

She is now going into her 5th year of being a counselor at Alisal High School and loves making connections with her students and having the ability to support them, whether it’s academically or mentally. “It’s so special working at Alisal because we have so many alumni,” Gamez said. “I get to see my former teachers and see all the positive things that happen at Alisal, it is something that I’m super proud of.”

 There’s a lot of contrast to what the community is like now in comparison to the time period Gamez attended Alisal, where there were many gangs shootings/affiliations and a low percentage of students going off to college or even graduating. 

She grew up most of her life hearing bad news from the Eastside of Salinas and all the negative things that happen. “It’s nice to see Alisal grow in so many ways and to see so many students graduate and go off to college,” Gamez said. “Because when I was in high school, a lot of my friends dropped out or went to jail.” 

As for her personal life, she’s been married to Mr. Cornejo (Mr. C), an art teacher at Alisal High School for nearly 20 years. They met in elementary school but didn’t start talking until their senior year, where they became high school sweethearts. “It’s cool that both of us are back at Alisal and helping out students,” Gamez said. “We love doing what we do and working together.” 

Gamez plans to continue traveling around the world with Mr. C and is considering going back to school to earn an admin credential. But as for now she’s in a great stage of her life and is happy and proud to be back at Alisal doing what she loves most, working and helping kids.