Villegas reflects on two years of working with elementary, high
school students at learning center
The end of the summer celebration at the Si, Se Puede! Learning
Center July 30 was a bittersweet evening for local Edith Villegas.
The evening doubled as a going away party for Villegas, 21, a San
Jose State University student who has worked as a resident activity
leader at the center for two years.
Villegas reflects on two years of working with elementary, high school students at learning center
The end of the summer celebration at the Si, Se Puede! Learning Center July 30 was a bittersweet evening for local Edith Villegas. The evening doubled as a going away party for Villegas, 21, a San Jose State University student who has worked as a resident activity leader at the center for two years.
“I liked that the job involved children and the community,” she said, of when she first applied for the position, which is funded through Americorps. “That really got my attention. And the program was K-5 and I liked that it was a mix of different age groups.”
At the celebration Charles Miller, the resident service coordinator at the center, talked about Villegas’ contribution to the program.
“Everyday she is so happy when she arrives,” Miller said, to the students and families. “She understands the importance of education. She loves you so much and I’m not sure you understand that.”
He added that she has served as a great role model for the children, including the kids in the program as well as the high school volunteers who work with the Students Helping Youth Nurture Education (SHYNE) program.
Villegas teared up as her colleagues each took a turn talking about her, including resident activity leaders Leonard Espinoza and Zoa Lopez, and summer associate Megan Peterson.
“With Edith here you know everything is going to go fantastically,” Peterson said.
Villegas said the staff spent most of the day setting up for the celebration. They strung art projects by each of the students in the program across the room. Each poster had a photo of the student and a poem they wrote about themselves. The kids all shared things from what they like to do – playing videogames, watching movies or dancing – to things about themselves such as that they try to be good. The staff members created their own poems as well. Villegas’ reflected her love of salsa dancing and her hope for the future of her students.
The staff set up tables and chairs outside for dinner and a deejay played music that ranged from pop to country to salsa from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Maximiliano Espinosa and his family catered the event with a taco bar. Dessert included cake and cupcakes.
The activities included face painting by Serena’s Face Painting, a yoga demonstration led by Peterson and a raffle.
During her time working at Si, Se Puede, Villegas has been attending school full time.
“I would commute to school and get out at 1:30 p.m. and drive straight back here to come to the center,” she said. “No matter how tired I was or if I had a bad day, once I get here, I had to turn that off and put it aside.”
When her term finishes Aug. 6, she will continue taking classes at SJSU.
“I want to be a Spanish teacher so I thought it would be good to have some good experiences with that,” she said.
During the school year, students meet after school at the Si, Se Puede! Learning Center at the Villa Luna Apartments for help with their homework and enrichment activities. As a resident activity leader, Villegas worked closely with the students and helped plan activities. Starting in June, the staff offered a summer program that included activities and weekly field trips.
In addition to working with the elementary school students, Villegas worked with the SHYNE program planning college trips and workshops for the high school students.
“I’d say the most challenging thing would be the transition from the regular school year program to summer school because it’s completely different,” Villegas said. “It goes from only being there three or four hours to being at work seven hours, and having a lot more kids. Right now we have about 63. During the year when I started we had 25.”
Villegas said the program grew to 35 students in the second year she was involved, and she has grown with it.
“When I first started here there were already resident activity leaders so I helped them out,” she said. “I thought that was what it would be – me working along side them … and then they had to go after a while and then it was just me and I had to step in there and fill their shoes.”
The connection with the families is what Villegas said she will miss the most as her time comes to a close.
“I am really going to miss all the kids and the families here,” she said. “Honestly, this is my second home. I probably spend more time here than at home. I come here and it’s not even like work. I seriously enjoy it so much.”
At the end of the night, Villegas said a few words in Spanish and English to the students and families present.
“I want to ask you all a big favor,” she said. “It’s to follow your dreams. Whatever you want to do when you grow up, follow your dreams.”
Raffle items were donated by Bill’s Bullpen, Papa Murphy’s, Andi’s All About Fruit, McDonald’s, Oil Service, Penguin’s Car Wash, Premiere Cinemas, Tip ‘n Toe Salon, Zoom Photography, Togo’s, Target, Paine’s, She’s, Ruth’s Beauty Salon, Safeway, Maverick BBQ, Juice It Up, Annie Nails and M&M haircut. Miller said one of the parents scoured the city collecting donations for the raffle.
