By Frédéric Martin, Editor-in-Chief

BORN AND RAISED in Madera, Evelyn Guzman graduated from Madera South High School in 2014 and decided to further her education at the Madera Center. Upon obtaining her Associate Degree from the Madera Community College, she continued her formal educational journey at California State University Fresno where she graduated with a liberal arts degree in early education. She completed her bachelor’s degree in May 2020, as the California Central Valley was being hit with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and most of the state was under a shelter-at-home order. The last months in college were incredibly disruptive for Evelyn: attending her classes remotely, via distance learning, and being stuck at home created challenges and an abrupt change of pace that required immediate adjustments that affected all aspects of her life, a notion with which all the readers are keenly familiar. Thankfully, she lived at home with her parents and had a part time job, during her last year in school, at her godfather’s jewelry store, Del Sol Jewelers, located on Yosemite Avenue in Madera.

Evelyn was initially particularly frustrated with the confinement rules, from the pandemic, being unable to see or visit with any of her friends and family outside of her house during the early spring months of 2020. She was eventually able to get back to work with her uncle, as the jewelry store reopened in May, which soon satisfied her need for social interactions, stemming from her deeply gregarious nature.

After obtaining her degree, she soon applied for the Fresno State Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Residency Program, which has a deep cooperation with the Madera Unified School District DLI program, and hopes to be able to study towards her DLI credentials, which should take about a year and a half to complete. She is awaiting a response from the program with high hopes to be accepted so she can dive into the DLI immersion program to eventually launch her teaching career as a dual language instructor at Madison Elementary in Madera.

Her favorite educator was Mr. Dorough, her biology teacher at Madera South, who was always available on his lunch hour to address any class topic and to help motivate her when needed. His mentorship certainly helped steer her towards education and she is incredibly grateful for all the help he provided her through her years in high school.