In honor of Alisal’s 60th Anniversary, this is the 26th in an ongoing series of staff/alumni profiles.

High school can be stressful when you feel pressured to pick a lifelong career before you are even an adult. This was the case for GEARUP advisor, Cristal Ortiz, who was unsure of her future career path until she discovered that her purpose was to come back to her community and help future generations.

Ortiz was a member of the Class of 2018. When she was in high school, she participated in extracurriculars, such as soccer and cross country, both her junior and senior year. “It was memorable as I got to have fun during [practice] and make new friends,” she said. 

Aside from afterschool activities, she also participated in the Health Academy from her sophomore to senior year. “Ms. Frankel was the advisor at the time and I joined it to have someone keep me accountable,” she said. “I wanted to have someone to talk to about my academic classes and also applying to college, which she helped me with.”

Once senior year had arrived, Ortiz was encouraged to choose a career working with students. “She [Ms. Frankel] told me to look into various careers and just learn by taking one step at a time,” she said. 

She had applied to UC Davis, and while she got rejected, she decided to check in with Frankel. “I thought that I would attend Hartnell to save money and since it was close to home, but she told me to not limit myself and consider CSUMB,” Ortiz said. 

For her, it was still convenient as she could easily commute to the university and go back home. “I knew that if I were to have gone to Davis, I would have dropped out because I would not be able to adjust to having to live with other people,” she said. “I would get overstimulated.”

During her time at CSUMB, she decided to major in psychology for her bachelor’s degree and to continue exploring career pathways. 

Once in her junior year, she noticed that other students had programs or internships that they were involved in and she wanted to join in that to find her true passion. “I realized that I was almost going to graduate in college and I had no experience in my major outside of school,” she said. “So, I looked for jobs and since I was part of the migrant program at CSUMB, they used to post like job openings.”

Since she wanted to look into working with students, the job position to be a tutor under GEARUP convinced her to apply. GEARUP is a federally funded program but is partnered with CSUMB to support a cohort of students that are in a public school that has a majority of low income and first generation students to prepare them for college and career readiness. “The position did not require much experience working with students,” she said. “[Since] it was with middle and high school students, it was what I was looking for, while attending class.”

When she got the job, she had been placed as an academic tutor at Seaside Middle School. “This was a great job because it allowed me to see different teaching styles as well as it helped me develop my skills as an educator,” she said. 

One year after working with the program, she was promoted to a temporary advisor for one year, before becoming a permanent advisor at Seaside High School a year later. “Learning about different styles and working with students of different cultural backgrounds helped in that,” she said.

After her first year at Seaside High, she decided that her return to Alisal would be best. “I decided to move to Alisal after Seaside because I thought that it would be a great experience to come back to where I came to school,” she said. “I got to see my previous teachers, like Frankel and give back to students as Frankel did towards me.”

Her return at Alisal was sparked by her own experiences, as she had someone special (Frankel) guide her and she wanted to do the same for students. “The majority [students] don’t have somebody for them academically,” she said. “Me being at Alisal is very helpful and creates a long lasting impact for students that need help.” 

The impact that she has had with being a CSUMB advisor has allowed her to work with students, just as Frankel did with her. “It is really nice to work with them [staff] because they get to see a different part of me,” she said. “Now that I work here they see me a bit more professionally, which is inspiring to them because they see the fruits of their labor pay off by seeing a student of theirs prosper.”

Now that she has been working with students from Class of 2027 at Alisal for the past 3 years, there has been a strong change in the career readiness opportunities. “The CCR team and the presentations that they gave, when I was a student, there was nothing but now there is a great exposure to all students about college,” she said. 

Apart from the students’ opportunities, she has come to like the Alisal community and how it has been built over the years. “It is the fact that there are so many alumni and that they come back to give back to the students and the overall Alisal community,” she said. “It allows students to be more successful.”

While GEARUP is only temporary, once the Class of 2027 is off to college, she has the decision to continue advising the next generation of students. 

However, she would like to continue by getting her Masters in Education. “I would like to be an elementary school teacher in a public community to continue servicing low income families,” she said. “I am looking into Santa Clara, but I can also do it at CSUMB alongside my teaching credential.”

As she moves onto the next step into her journey, she would like to be an encouragement to students who may think they are not successful. “Ms. Frankel was one of those teachers who gave time for her students and I want to do the same,” she said.