Coming back to the school he was once a student at to teach, was never in health teacher Uriel Gutierrez’s plans.

He was born in Newark, California, but moved to Salinas, California, when he was 4 months old. His parents had already previously lived in Salinas and chose to return for work. His father worked in construction, while his mother worked in agriculture. “They were humble beginnings,” Gutierrez said.

He’d help his mother from time to time during high school. He would mainly help his mother set up rubber bands for onion packing at home. While he never received any money from it, he didn’t mind helping. He knew his mother appreciated the help. Gutierrez quickly learned that it wasn’t a life for him. “You don’t need to go work there to understand that you don’t want to have that job,” he said.

Gutierrez kept to himself throughout high school. While he did participate in basketball, his freshman year, he had to quit playing due to an ankle injury. He simply preferred keeping to himself, coming to school and getting his work done. “I treated it like a job, I came to do what I had to do,” Gutierrez said.

 While he kept to himself, he enjoyed attending the basketball games. “Our basketball team was really good, if you weren’t there early, you weren’t getting in,” he said. 

He also tried computer repair at ROP, but decided it wasn’t something of interest for him. “I found it boring and didn’t want to do it anymore,” Gutierrez said.

Since social media was not a thing at the time, Gutierrez would spend time with his friends by playing basketball. “Things were completely different to what they are now,” Gutierrez said. “They would play basketball near elementary schools before they fenced them. It gave us easier access to basketball courts.” 

After graduating in 2005, Gutierrez attended San Jose State University. He originally intended to become a game developer and he majored in business for about a year. “I decided it wasn’t for me, my major or the campus,” Gutierrez said. 

He didn’t like the city overall. San Jose is a naturally populated city with traffic which he heavily dislikes. He also realized he wasn’t really finding interest in his major.  

He decided to transfer to Hartnell College, continuing with his major in transfer studies, which he earned his AA in. 

Eventually, he ended up at CSUMB. Upon his orientation, he chose to change it to Kinesiology with a minor in business. “I wanted somewhere I could work with athletes,” he said. “When I worked as an aide for physical therapy, I found out it was mostly older people with injuries and I didn’t want to do that anymore.”  After spending about 3 years, he obtained his BSN in kinesiology.

On top of being a student, Gutierrez was still working full time for HSBC Card Services, which was a credit card company. “It was a simple job, straightforward, very boring unfortunately,” he said. His job was answering phone calls and directing them if they needed other help or had any other questions. 

Simultaneously, he started subbing for different schools. He subbed for elementary and high school. “I didn’t really bond with the elementary schoolers, it’s much harder to handle conflict with younger children rather than teenagers,” he said.

His career at Alisal had first begun in December of 2014 as a substitute teacher. He realized this was something he really enjoyed doing. “I enjoyed interacting with the students,” he said. “Teaching them little things about life and I felt I could help them be better versions of themselves.” 

Subbing for high school students felt natural for Gutierrez, which was also what finalized his decision toward becoming a teacher. 

On October 17th of 2017, he was officially hired as a health teacher here. The previous health teacher had retired which helped open up a job opportunity for Gutierrez.

“I think subbing made my hiring easier,” he said. Although returning to his high school was never part of his original plan, he settled in quickly. “It felt natural coming back and I enjoyed having connections with the students,” Gutierrez said. 

As far as working with former teachers, he had no issues. “It doesn’t feel strange ever, it feels nice working with people who once taught me in high school,” he said. 

Like most things in life, Alisal has gone through many changes since Gutierrez was a student here. “You have more kids going to college, you have more kids graduating,” he said. 

Working as a teacher is something that Gutierrez enjoys. It wasn’t something that he expected when ending high school. But it has made a major impact on his life. “It never gets boring, there’s always new students, new bonds and connections with students which makes my job so exciting,” he said. 

Returning to the school you once attended makes you really see all the changes it has gone through. “The student spirit is what makes Alisal what it is,” he said. His experience in high school did not consist of school spirit. “Students didn’t care about school, it was more about showing up and seeing your friends,” he said.  “It was a different time, and students were not as interested.”

Things have changed. Nowadays, students enjoy being involved with their school and their community. “I think culture and pride play a big role in how students express themselves and represent Alisal,” he said. School pride can be something that makes a school special, and for Gutierrez that’s what makes Alisal what it is.