WATSONVILLE—Many in this year’s Pajaro Valley High School graduating class had heard about the battle to construct the school’s new athletic fields since their days in elementary school.
PVHS graduate Yuliana Urrutia says she remembers overhearing her cousins talking about the field while she was in fifth grade. She also remembers her friend who graduated from the school in 2019 saying that she was promised the field would be constructed by the time she was a senior.
“When I came in as a freshman, I didn’t expect to graduate on the field,” she said. “It’s crazy to think about how long it took. But it’s a big moment for not only us, but for everyone around the PV community.”
Urrutia and fellow Associated Student Body (ASB) co-President Claudia “Monse” Guerrero had the honors of giving a speech at the school’s first-ever graduation ceremony on its new field on June 3.
Urrutia, Guerrero and Ashley Rubio were all standout students that joined roughly 280 other Grizzlies on the historic day. Also in attendance during the in-person ceremony: dozens of friends and family wearing their masks and social distancing while hooping and hollering for their respective graduates.
The trio played hoops together, held major roles in ASB and school clubs and will attend four-year universities in the fall.
Rubio said being the first class to graduate at the new field was an “honor.”
Balancing act
As ASB co-President, Urrutia helped plan the school’s events this year. Though the pandemic—and the distance-learning requirements that came with it—did not allow the school to host many gatherings, when sports started back up in February ASB did its best to carry on the school spirit PVHS is known for, Urrutia says.
When she wasn’t planning activities around the school’s sports teams, she was busy playing sports herself, taking on several advanced placement (AP) classes or working at McDonald’s.
Urrutia says she had to learn very quickly how to balance her time between sports, school and work. She got a job shortly after she turned 16 to take the financial pressure off her mother, Flor Mayo, who by herself supports three children, including Urrutia, as a general manager at McDonald’s.
Her mother, Urrutia says, always told her to be “outstanding.”
“She expects a lot from us, and I feel like seeing her suffer for so many years makes me want to go harder in school and care for her,” she said.
Urrutia plans to attend UC Los Angeles in the fall. There, she will work toward a degree in biology with a focus in neuroscience. She said she chose that path because of her friend’s experience with epilepsy, which forced him to stop playing sports.
She says she wants to better understand the mind, and maybe find a career in medicine. She graduated from the school with a 4.3 GPA.
Finding inspiration
Guerrero says that when students were finally allowed to return to in-person instruction this calendar year, emotions ran high. It was a little bitter sweet, she says, to be back in class for less than two hours, but to be together again was a treat.
“We all missed our teachers and I think they missed us,” she said. “It was really emotional to see them again, and I think it still is.”
Guerrero, like Urrutia, kept a busy schedule while at PVHS. Along with playing hoops and keeping a 3.86 GPA, she served as ASB co-President and spent many hours with the school’s Early Academic Outreach Program, which helps students stay on track to attend college and technical schools.
She was also the conduit between the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees and the district’s students as the Student Trustee, a position that does not carry an official vote, but that can advise the board while it makes decisions on the district’s plans.
She was in that role during the board’s kerfuffle earlier this year that saw Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez temporarily lose her job. She said it was a huge learning experience, and that it has stoked her interest in local politics.
She plans to attend San Jose State University in the fall as a pre-nursing major. She says she wants to become a nurse, and then return to Watsonville to help her community both in the medical field and, possibly, political landscape.
“I really want to come back to Watsonville and help my community,” she said, noting that she wants to help fight for more mental health and wellness assistance for students in PVUSD—especially those who might not be brave enough to reach out for aid.
An urge to help
In the fall Rubio will head to UC San Diego to earn a degree in cognitive science, which, in a nutshell, is the study of how the mind processes information. She says that interest was sparked by her time with the debate club over the last three years, and her participation in mock trials as a senior.
“At first, I wanted to be a lawyer,” she said, before explaining that the ideas and thought processes in the background of a mock trial debate were what she found most interesting. “When people really have problems, I like talking to them and knowing what’s going on.”
Rubio says that after college she wants to help low-income people access health care. She says seeing her mother struggle with heart troubles and the inability to afford exams, treatment or medication to treat her health issues spurred this goal. Trips to Mexico, where she says she saw many people going without care because of poverty, also inspired her.
“I feel like this really hit me, there’s a lot of people disadvantaged economically,” she said. “Because of my economic struggles too, I feel like I want to give back to my community and help people get the care they need.”
Rubio, who graduated with a 4.36 GPA, says she will be the first in her family to attend a university. Her move down to Southern California will also be the first time she has spent an extended period of time away from her family. But she says balancing clubs, school and employment—she worked at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and McDonald’s—the last four years while at PVHS has taught her time management skills that will help her succeed on her own.
“I’m nervous,” she said. “But I’m also excited.”
