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The Spectrum . Redwood City's Monthly Magazine
Teen Mother Who Dropped Out of Junior High
School Receives Scholarship to Attend
Cañada College
Three years ago, Rocio Aguilar was a 14-year-old junior high school dropout making
unhealthy choices and living life with little ambition. Today, Aguilar is preparing to
enter college to complete her general education requirements and, hopefully, start a
career in health care.
Aguilar’s college dreams are being made a reality thanks to a scholarship developed by
KTVU Television Anchor Leslie Griffith. Aguilar was the first recipient of the Leslie
R. Griffith Woman of Courage Scholarship. Griffith and Cañada College President
Rosa Perez presented Aguilar with the scholarship on June 16 on the front lawn of
Redwood High School campus.
Griffith learned first-hand the hardships faced by teen moms in continuing their education
when she attended last year’s Redwood High School graduation ceremony. The
continuation school has the School-Aged Mother’s Program (SAMP), which Aguilar
attended. Following the ceremony, Griffith asked Perez how she could help.
“I told Leslie how difficult it is for these young mothers to attend college because they
simply can’t afford it,” Perez said. “She wrote me a check for $5,000 and told me to
help any young woman who wished to continue her education at our college.”
The only criteria for the scholarship was that the recipient value education, place children
first in her role as a woman, make significant changes in her own life and/or the
lives of others, and is a role model for other young women.
Aguilar represents those values. While she failed to finish junior high school she completed
high school in three years. She now realizes that an education is the way to a positive
life for herself and her 2½-year-old daughter, Vivian. Aguilar’s daughter attends
the Redwood Child Development Center located on the Redwood High School campus.
It is designed for school-aged parents, staff, and faculty of the Sequoia Union
High School District and is operated by the Family Service Agency. Aguilar has volunteered
at the center for two afternoons a week because she wants to be with Vivian in
a school setting and actively participate in her care. She also wants her daughter to be
ready for preschool.
“This scholarship will help me to be a good role model for my three younger sisters
and my daughter,” Aguilar said. “It also gives me no excuse to not go on to college.”
She is encouraging her sisters, cousins and friends to stay in school and break the cycle
of teen pregnancy in her family and the community.
Denise Plante, principal of Redwood High School, said Aguilar came to the school
when Kathleen Kaz, the school’s California School-Aged Families Education coordinator,
spotted her walking the streets and asked why she wasn’t in school.
“It is with great awe that I have seen Rocio grow and mature successfully in our program,”
Plante said. “To have yet another ‘angel’ guiding her to greater success through
this scholarship is wonderful.”
Aguilar said the turning point in her life came when she began attending SAMP at
Redwood High School in the fall of 2002. Her attendance was dreadful and she was
less than enthusiastic about school but her teacher, Merren Carlson, guided her
through her pregnancy and motivated her to take her education seriously. After completing
the SAMP program, Aguilar enrolled Vivian into the child development center
and began attending the Opportunities Industrial Center West (OICW) Culinary Arts
program in Menlo Park..
Community Reclaims Fair Oaks Elementary
School let out for summer last week at
Fair Oaks Elementary School in Redwood City,
and school administrators said this year might
be remembered for cleaning out teen gang
members, graffiti and vandalism.
The school received a three-year community
policing grant, and the San Mateo
County Sheriff ’s Office assigned a school
resource officer. Fields have been renewed,
there are fewer broken bottles, and leaders said
the community reclaimed the school.
“If you came here a year ago, there
was a lot of drinking, a lot of gangbangers,” said San Mateo County Sheriff ’s Deputy
Encarnacion Gonzalez, who works at the school 20 hours a week. “You can drive
around now and it’s a whole different environment.”
Norte?o gang members often loitered at the school in the past few years,
Gonzalez said, and students and their families were intimidated not to use the fields
after school. Troubled teens used it as a hub.
Maria Diaz-Slocum, a trustee in the Redwood City Elementary School
District, met with parent Josefina Chavez about three years ago. A student had been
killed near the school, Diaz-Slocum said, and it shocked residents into taking action.
Chavez showed her what was broken around the school — and who they feared.
Playing fields were dirty, potholed and dark at night, and families wouldn’t go
near them, especially at night.
There was graffiti, too many speeding cars and other problems in Fair Oaks,
an unincorporated area of the county.
Diaz-Slocum brought some of their concerns to the school district and
changes were made. More parents started to come to board meetings and became
empowered with her help.
A district installed a new field with lights, and the school added afternoon and
evening activities like basketball, English and reading courses.
“We cannot live in fear,” Diaz-Slocum said.
“We have to invite the community to use [the fields] and enjoy them.”
Last fall, Gonzalez started teaching classes and counseling students, and a
series of community meetings followed. Fair Oaks students and parents are about 95
percent Spanish speaking, Gonzalez said, and he drew on some of his experiences
growing up in Hayward to try to build the community around Fair Oaks. He and Diaz-
Slocum speak Spanish.
Houses surround the school, and a series of community meetings led to the
formation of a neighborhood association called the Neighborhood to Neighborhood
Campaign in May. A neighborhood watch also formed.
Fair Oaks Principal Katherine Rivera said community dialogue has grown,
and Gonzalez’ presence alone has deterred crime.
“We’ve seen a big improvement over the last school year,” Rivera said.
However, not all the school’s problems have been solved.
Chavez has been asking the school
board to install video cameras at the school’s
entrance to deter crime. The district installed
security cameras at Kennedy Middle School
and in the hallways of McKinley Institute of
Technology, and Rivera said they could only
help the school security.
The cameras also might last longer
than Gonzalez’s stint, since his job at the
school is federally funding for two more years.
Diaz-Slocum said she would like to open the
fields at Hoover Elementary and Garfield Elementary Charter School next.
Chavez said the new school sign and cameras are expected to be installed in
the fall.
“Our community has been changing a lot and it’s for the good of the kids,”
Chavez said. “They have it a little bit better.”
Editors note: This article first appeared in the Daily Journal.