Promises Kept...

by Krysel Walasik
serving at South Bay Community Services in California

When I first began my service in Chula Vista, I was a bit apprehensive about working within a community that was predominantly Spanish speaking, as my Spanish skills were very low. My position involves community and parent engagement, thus requiring some Spanish knowledge, which made me even more nervous and shy. The community and parent engagement team consists of ten Promotores, community members who work with Chula Vista Promise Neighborhood (CV Promise) in order to engage parents, discuss issues, and bridge gaps between education information and community knowledge. Our parent and community engagement team ranges from ages 22-75 years old, and each of us has different personalities and provides varying contributions, making our team multi-faceted and incredibly interesting. 

Most of the Promotores’ first language was Spanish, like most of the Chula Vista community, thus leading to most of our meeting being held in Spanish. Within my first few weeks, I was being taught various Spanish terms and now, 6 months into my service, I am able to understand almost all the Spanish conversations that take place during our meetings or discussions with parents. I moved to San Diego without any family, only a few friends, and no knowledge of the area. However, within my first month here, my team, along with other CV Promise members, became my family, friends, and support. 

At the start of my service, I kept to my other VISTA members and was in the background for most of the meetings and simply observed what was going on each day. The parent and community engagement team office is located in the parent center at Castle Park Elementary School, where many parents come in and out. One day in early November, a woman by the name of Graciel Salmeron was in the parent center with her 3-year-old daughter inquiring about information on CV Promise programs. Ica, Graciel’s daughter, came up to me and started talking to me in Spanish and telling me about the community garden that she and her mom had just finished watering; the garden is located at Castle Park Elementary school behind the parent center and Graciel is part of the garden board. Graciel has another daughter who attends the CV Promise preschool, Escuelita del Futuro, and Ica was enrolled in the new classroom opening in January 2014.

From November to January, Ica would come in once or twice a week with her mom and talk to me, not knowing that I could not understand most of her words, but still wanting to share her stories. Ica helped me branch out of my comfort zone by speaking to me each time she visited and helped me become more comfortable in my surroundings; I learned that any person young or old can impact you and change your life. Graciel is involved with the garden, the elementary school, and volunteers with my new School Pantry program, thus allowing me to become very familiar with her and her family.

 

I am currently working with Graciel to train her on PTA information, so that she can hopefully become the next Castle Park Elementary PTA president. She has a wonderful family and is engaged in every aspect of her four children’s education, thus making her a role model for other parents and community members. Graciel and Ica have had a large impact on my time here in Chula Vista, and I really enjoy working with such loving and involved families.