Re-thinking School Community Engagement with Melissa Estrada from Hesperia High School

Melissa Estrada, Community Schools Coordinator at Hesperia High School, shared her journey from being the first in her family to attend college to becoming a counselor. She highlighted the importance of community partnerships, mentioning key partners like IHP, Desert Mountain Children's Center, and Providence St. Mary's Hospital. Estrada emphasized the need for intentional collaboration, removing barriers, and meeting families where they are. She discussed the impact of their services, including peer tutoring, physical health support, and mental health counseling, which have reduced absenteeism and improved student well-being. Estrada also stressed the importance of networking and continuous learning in community school initiatives.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Joanna Marrufo, Melissa Estrada

Joanna Marrufo  00:08

Welcome to Beyond Academics, connecting classroom and community. The podcast where we dive deep into the world of community schools and explore how they're transforming education for students, families and communities, we are hearing from educators and community members who are at the forefront of creating change and meeting the needs of the community, be it basic needs, health care, social services support or social emotional learning. I'm Joanna Marrufo, your host, integrated supports outreach specialist the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. And in today's episode, we're thrilled to welcome Melissa Estrada Community Schools coordinator at Hesperia High School. Melissa has been a community school coordinator at Hesperia high school for two years. The School holds a special place in her heart. Not only did she graduate from Hesperia high in 2009 but she also has a background in early childhood education, social services and counseling. She loves uplifting students, families and staff and her community in her role and has created positive changes in the community she grew up in on today's episode, we will dive into her role on campus and in the community. Thank you so much for joining us here at beyond the blackboard, Melissa, I want the audience to get to know you better and see and hear about your experiences that has shaped you and who you are today, working with students and families. And so can you tell us a little bit about what brought you to education and how did you end up at your school site? 

Melissa Estrada  01:53

Well, first of all, thanks for having me very excited to be here with my first my first podcast. I listen to them all the time. So it's funny to be on the other side of it. It's really cool in here. We have, like, the sound boarding on the walls, and it's very official. So very excited to be here. So what brought me to the education field is really started in my undergrad. I was at UC Riverside, and I was the first person in my family to go to college. I had no idea what I was doing. My mom was as involved as she could be, but she couldn't really guide me through the process. So she did sign me up for my first college class. So I thank her for me being able to further my education. But further than that, it was really up to me. I didn't know what I was doing. I was kind of just stumbling through it and figuring it out on my own. So I ended up at UC Riverside after Community College, and I was a psych major, psychology, and I'm like, Okay, well, there's so much I could do with this. I really need to figure out what I want to do. Because I figured out that I did want to further my education and go for my master's, but again, the guidance I'm like, What do I how do I do this? What do I do with this? Right? So I spoke to someone at UC Riverside. He was not a counselor, but he really helped guide students a lot. So I spoke with him, and I talked to him about counseling, and he discouraged me. He told me that you're not going to find a job in that. So it was, it was really disheartening. I'm like, Okay, I'm about to graduate. What do I want to do with this? Right? So I ended up applying for my master's in Licensed Marriage Family Therapy at Pepperdine University. And I got in, and then I saw, Oh, my God, this is so expensive, I can't do this. So I ended up declining that offer, and I just took some time. So okay, what do I want to do? Years passed, and then I came back to counseling. I'm like, I think that's what's in my heart. That's what I want to do. So I went for it. I applied to Cal State San Bernardino for the masters in counseling program, and the first year I got denied, and that was a bummer. I'm like, okay, maybe this is not meant for me. So I went back to my roots, and I said, Okay, when I started community college, I was a nursing major. So I said, maybe that's what it that's what's for me, right? So went back, restarted my science classes, because after a certain amount of time, you have to redo your science classes. I met with my counselor, and she just so happened to have graduated from the program that I was denied for the year before. So she started talking to me about it, and I was like, Man, this feels like it's meant to be so the application was due, like two weeks after that, and I said, I'm just gonna apply. I'm gonna go for it. So I did, and I got accepted. And I was like, Okay, this is for me. So went back for my counseling degree, and three years passed. Right within those three years, I had to do internship hours. I was living back in Hesperia, and. I ended up at the high school that I graduated from, and I was like, This is so cool. I love it here. Everybody's amazing. I saw teachers that taught me when I was in high school, and it just felt nice to be back. So I was completing my hours there, and a position opened up, and I was like, Okay, I'm not done with school, I'm not done with my hours, but I'm going to apply and get the experience. Hopefully I get an interview and I'll get that experience. So I did. I got an interview. It was for a counseling position, but it was for a counselor on special assignment. So the special assignment was community school coordinator. Luckily, my previous role, I had experience in partnerships and bringing resources to families and a lot of the things that go into community schools. So I felt like the interview went pretty well, but again, I'm like, I'm not done with school. There's no way they're going to give this to me. And I get the call a couple of days later, and they offered me the position, and it was amazing. So that's how I ended up back at Hesperia High School as a counselor, but on special assignment as community school coordinator.

Joanna Marrufo  06:02

Wow, that's so amazing. That story of like, resilience and following your gut. That's awesome. I mean, it it's really hard as a first generation not knowing, like, what's that next step? But it's really awesome to hear you today, like, where you're, where you came from, and now where, how it just happened that you ended up at Hesperia High School and serving the community that you grew up in, which, I mean, that's so rewarding, and I'm so happy that, you know, there, that the community can benefit from, you know, someone who left and just came back. So what is the most rewarding for you in doing your work with students in the school community? Now that you've been there for two years,

Melissa Estrada  06:49

I've known that I wanted to work with students, right? I just told you guys my journey of figuring out I wanted to be a counselor, not having that guidance myself, or having incorrect guidance, where somebody really kind of just shot me down when I told them what I wanted to do. So me knowing that I wanted to work with students and support them, especially like the first gen students, they really hold a special place in my heart. And we have a lot of students like that up in the high desert, right? So me knowing that I wanted to do that has only helped with how amazing it feels to see the work that you're doing right so as a community school coordinator, we do have different partners that we work with right now. We have three really strong partners. We work with IHP, we work with Desert Mountain Children's Center, and then we work with Providence, St Mary's Hospital. So those are three really strong partnerships at this moment, and we have check ins with them, right? Some are monthly. Sometimes it goes a little bit longer, but usually we try to check in monthly, being able to have those conversations with our partners and them giving us updates on the families they work with. We've been able to help this family with this and as a counselor, you do that on an individual level, where you're helping these students or these families, being able to see it on a more systemic level, you're now seeing this service help this family and this family, and being able to have that reach, right? It's just an amazing feeling. And then hearing those stories, I still get to hear those stories. I don't get to be the one providing the service necessarily, but I know that the work that I'm putting in is helping provide those services for those families. Like there have been families that are struggling with some kind of health condition, health condition, and our partners at IEHP have been able to help them navigate that right through the services that they offer. And I have one parent specifically in mind that I learned about at the end of last year, and it's just to be able to hear those stories and know that the work you're doing behind the scenes is having an impact, even though you don't get to see it all the time. When you hear those little stories, it just makes it worth it, and you know that you're doing something good for your community.

Joanna Marrufo  08:58

Yeah, that's amazing to get to see it like come full circle, right? Because you kind of planted those seeds, built those relationships with those key community partners, and to be able to be on the back end and just witness kind of like the impact it makes, right? I think that's what community schools is all about. Is like really looking at collective impact and seeing how we can, like, be stronger as a community when we kind of just remove the barriers with schools and with the community partners that so desperately want to be a part of a school community. So thank you so much for sharing that. So for the next question I'm curious about, how does your Community School highlight collaboration in serving students needs?

Melissa Estrada  09:49

One of the beautiful things when I started this role, completely new, by the way, first community school coordinator in his very unified I had no idea what I was doing, and neither. My supervisors couldn't even tell me what to do, because it was just so new. So there's beauty in that, right? You kind of get to learn about it and then make it your own, and then, you know, learn from others and figure out how it's going to work best for your community. Right through my learning and talking with people, I was able to see, okay, what is the Community School? First of all, what are other people doing? And the more I learned, the more I realized that Hesperia High School and just Hesperia unified in general, they already did a lot of things that community schools do, right? The four pillars they were already integrated into there. We had services for our students, right? We did collaborative decision making. That's something that's been going on within the district for quite some time now. So now it was just elevating that right so making sure that we're being intentional with it. Are our students really part of everything, and are we listening to them? Are our families really part of these decisions? And how are we listening to them? How are we taking their feedback? How are we breaking down barriers for these families to give that feedback, right? We could send out a survey and say we did it and check the box, but are they really completing the surveys? Are we really hearing their voices? What if they don't speak the language and you're sending a survey in English, right? Or what if they're not comfortable with the survey electronically? Are we printing it for them? Are we really asking them to follow up questions, to dig deeper into this data? So I think really making sure that the collaboration that we were already doing now, it's being more intentional with it and showing the why behind it, too. I think people are more you get more buy in when people understand the why behind these things? And then when they see these services, they see them. They're available for students. You get to show this is why, right? Because now this is helping our students. You get to ask the students, is this working for you? Why is it not working for you? And then showing them, okay, now you guys asked for this. There you go, just really being intentional with things, and then showing the why behind it, I think has been super important in our collaboration for the services that we provide for our students.

Joanna Marrufo  12:10

I love that. That's such a great way to highlight it is like removing those barriers, like thinking about, how can we really meet people where they're at right making sure that there are no barriers for them not to take that survey or your or start that conversation. I know you guys did, like, a long kind of, like assessment period. Do you want to share kind of, like, how you met those families where they're at?

Melissa Estrada  12:35

And I love that you say that meeting them where they're at, because it's not meeting me where I'm at, because I'm here, right? And I have these certain hours, but that's not real for everyone. That's not going to be your situation, right? You might be working at the time that I'm working. You can't make it. So being very intentional with that, we would print surveys. We would go outside at the pickup line where parents were, and hand them a QR code, or hand them the survey if you want to fill it out here right meeting them where they're at, we would offer a focus group. So we ran focus groups after our surveys, because a survey is only going to tell you so much. You have a focus group, then you could ask, why does this not work for you? Or what do you mean by this? Having those focus groups, we had them in the morning, we had them during school. We had them after school. I stayed late in the evening to run focus groups. Some families couldn't make those so then we had individual meetings with them, or we had zooms with them. Just so many different ways, so many different avenues, making those phone calls, and if you see that you're not getting responses from a certain community, right, specifically our marginalized communities, you're not getting the responses that you need. But you know, they're there, so then making those phone calls, Hey, did you get a chance to complete the survey yet and then completing it over the phone with them? You know, do you have five minutes right now that I could ask you a couple questions, and if you're not comfortable answering any of them, you don't have to, right? Just figuring out the best way to meet our families where they're at so that they're more apt to give you their feedback. 

Joanna Marrufo  14:15

Yeah, I love that, because a lot of the times these families are working, you know, they're commuting, but they care about their kids. They want to be there, you know, for them. And the fact that you're taking the time, you know, to call them, that's like, really something special, right? Because you're building that connection right from the beginning. So now they're probably going to be curious, like, hey, like, when you send out, like, what's the next service? Or, you know, community partnership that you're highlighting, they're gonna more likely be more engaged, right? Because you're making that first contact

Melissa Estrada  14:49

and you said something so important right now. You said, it's not that they don't care. I think sometimes we could, it's easier to get caught up in this. Oh, my God. Well, they didn't answer, so they must not care. Our not that our families don't care. It's not that our students don't care. It's not that our community doesn't care. It's just that we have to figure out, okay, we've been doing this this way for so long. We have to figure out how to change that so that way it meets their needs, right? Because not everybody's it's not a one size fits all. The same thing is not going to work for everybody. And again, it's not that they don't care. It's that we have to figure out what that barrier is and break that down and get that feedback.

Joanna Marrufo  15:30

I love it. And the fact that you grew up in the neighborhood, you know, the things that they're probably thinking about, right? So you go the extra mile, right? You're kind of pushing the envelope for a lot of like, maybe your school culture like thinking about, like, Hey, we're hosting events, like, multiple events, because we still want to get that underserved community that hasn't, you know, taken the survey. So I think that's the power of, like, having passionate educators and employees that serve the community that they're from. I think that's, that's what makes it so wonderful, because now you have such a thriving community school at Hesperia High School. So yeah, I would like to kind of dig a little deep and ask for folks that are just starting, and this could be for both schools that are not in the high desert, or are in the high desert. What's some advice you would give to a school that's just starting a community school? 

Melissa Estrada  16:24

That’s a great question. I would say I gave a little bit of my experience of not we didn't really have Community School coordinators, or we didn't have any in hesperia unified and really up in the high desert when I started, it was like everybody kind of heard about community schools, or some people had but weren't really sure what it was. And there were no coordinators. From my understanding, there were no coordinators at that time. It was an interesting journey network that was one of the biggest things, like, I was not afraid to and, you know, my admin was amazing, where, if I needed to go somewhere. They were like, go for it, right? Go and learn from these people. So I remember one of the first things I did, I Googled Community School coordinators, right? And I found someone in Anaheim. Her name is Tanya Garcia. And I was like, Okay, I'm going to Anaheim. She accepted, you know, me being there at her school and just kind of seeing what she was doing. So I networked, talked to people, you know, Zoom meetings, just learning from people who know the work. Don't be afraid to learn something new. I'd say I definitely don't know everything I know. You mentioned we have a thriving community school. Thank you. But there's still so much more to learn. So don't be afraid to reach out to people and ask for help. People are willing to help. If you need help, please reach out to me, and I certainly don't know all the answers, but I will help you figure it out, or help connect you to somebody who does know the answer. Right? So networking is so important and thinking outside of the box, I think community schools, it's a new thing, right? Newish, I would say in California, because it has been all over, you know, the US and even in California for a long time. San Francisco, Anaheim, has been doing it for a long time. So it's new ish. So I would say some of the things with community schools can be a little intimidating, or it can feel different because it's something different than what we've been doing. But don't be afraid to think outside of the box. Sometimes you might get looked at like, really, you're going to do that? Well, let's try it, right? And if it doesn't work, then it didn't work. I learned something, and then I'm going to try something else. But don't be afraid to think outside of the box. Always have the students at the center of what you're doing. Whenever you're thinking about doing something, always remember that the students are at the center of that. And what is this doing to help the students? What is this doing to help my community thrive? Keep that at the center of your work and yeah, really, just network, talking to people. You learn so much, and I certainly don't know everything. So talking to people helps me learn every day.

Joanna Marrufo  19:07

I love that. So you're, I would call you a network Weaver, because you went to you know, you were willing to learn and grow and like, you know, get your yourself out of your comfort zone too, of Hesperia and go explore like the best practices, right? That's amazing, right? The power of technology and being able to connect. But now we have, you know, our sur tech, which is the Southern Inland Regional Assistance Center. So that's really how we can support one another, because we have our convenings on online and we're really wanting to be that support. So I'm really happy that, you know, you got, you got kind of like the groundwork at his very high school, and now you're able to, like, share your story and share, kind of like the lessons learned for the new Community School coordinators that just got hired. Or are, you know, um. Received the grant, or what have you. So I'm really excited for that. 

Melissa Estrada  20:04

Thank you, and it's been fun to see so we started it at Hesperia High School, unfortunately. So we had the planning grant. Unfortunately, we did not get the implementation grant this year, so we are reapplying. But just the work, the groundwork that's been done, we've had four other schools apply and get the grant. So we have four other schools in Hesperia unified At this time, so it's beautiful to see, right? And I tell them, you don't need the grant to do the work. It helps. We're still doing the work, and we don't have the grant right now, so we're figuring it out through partnerships. And you know, our, our SIRTAC has been amazing. Our surtax, sorry, they've been amazing too. And helping out, you know, Dr Kemp has been awesome. So you have so much support out there. And don't be discouraged if you don't get the grant. If you do, it's amazing, but if you don't have it, you can still do the work. There's a couple added barriers, but it's not impossible.

Joanna Marrufo  21:02

Yeah, and now we have the language right before, I guess folks were already doing this idea of providing services at the school, right? They're already thinking above and beyond. But now we have language. It's called community schools. We're trying to really address those like barriers, like the transportation barriers, where folks can't get their health care, can't get mental health services, and now you're providing them at the school site. So do you mind sharing a little bit more like the details of what you provide? Yeah, for students. 

Melissa Estrada  21:32

So our three focus areas are physical health, mental health, and academic support. For academic support, we're offering tutoring after school, and it's led by peer tutor. So some of the feedback that we got because tutoring was offered, but through further digging, we were able to find that students sometimes don't always feel comfortable with the teacher, so offering that peer support has been helpful for students. There's still teachers in there to help them, but now they have a peer where it's a little less intimidating, right? And I'm sure that will evolve. That's just the feedback we got. Now, I'm sure we'll get more feedback, and we'll figure out how to make it so that it works for students, and then physical health support. So we were able to partner with providence. St Mary's desperate High School is in a unique position with community schools, because we're building a performing arts center that is set to be completed as of right now. It changes, but as of right now, October, November of next year, our performing arts center will be completed, and it's really nice because it's facing the street, so there will be four offices in there, two will be for physical health, and two will be for mental health. So until that is built, until that's complete providence. St Mary's has a mobile unit that they're bringing onto our campus twice a month, so that actually we just had our soft lunch earlier this month, and they'll be there again tomorrow. So it's been really beautiful to see them there, having our community get to know a little bit more about what the services are, having them there and seeing that. That's something that's available to you here, if you're not familiar with the high desert. So we have Providence St Mary's Hospital in Apple Valley, and then our school is in Hesperia, not that far, but it's very difficult for our families to get there. The bus system is not the best. We don't have sidewalks everywhere, so you can't really walk to it just difficult for our families to get there. So to be able to bring that service there for our students as well, if they have an appointment, they don't have to leave school. Parents can take them there, and then they go right back to school, and they don't have to miss school. That was a big part of our absenteeism is because students are going to appointment or they can't address something that they have with their health. Well, we have the service here now, so we're helping support you with that, right? And then we partner with Desert Mountain Children’s Center, so we have two additional clinicians on our site four days a week. One is there on Mondays, and he provides group counseling to our students. So we've had students who need support with grief, with substance use, anxiety, depression, Mr. Mike, we call him, has been amazing. He meets with our students every Monday, and he provides those services for them. And we've heard great things. We have students that want to do it again, because they love it. They feel like they get something out of it. And then we have Miss Naomi. She's there Monday through Thursday, and she's meeting one on one with our students. So it's been really nice to have them there, because it removes that barrier of the referral process where, okay, I sent this home with your parent, with you, and it went to your parent and somewhere that got lost, whether it's the student forgot to give it to the parent, or it ended up on their kitchen table and ended up under a pile of other things that they have going on, because we have so many things going on in our lives, right? So to be able to have those services there has been amazing, because again, it removes that barrier, and if a student needs to go see them, there. There. They're on campus. So, yeah, those are our, our, oh, I'm sorry we have IHP as well. Can't forget them. They're amazing. So they've been present during the mobile clinic days. So they're really help. They help providence. Let's say there's somebody who doesn't have insurance, they're able to be there to then help connect them, whether it's, you know, through IEHP or some program right, to help connect them with benefits for their family, they're there to help them navigate their insurance benefits. So I don't know about you guys, but I don't understand my insurance sometimes. So they're there to help our families really navigate that and understand what their benefits are. Help get them connected if they don't have insurance. We've had a lot of families that have been helped in connecting them to insurance because they're uninsured, and having insurance is really important. It's a big reason why sometimes our students don't go to the doctor. They're not being seen because they don't have insurance, right? So they've just been an amazing partner, and we're excited to see that partnership grow. So those are our three big partnerships. Yeah, 

Joanna Marrufo  26:09

wow, that's awesome. Just hearing you here. I mean, hearing you share like, just those wins, right? Of having mental health support, that's like a lifeline for kids, you know, during their transition periods of like, you know, high school and then also the health care right, like thinking about prevention before they get sick, right, or even addressing the root cause, right? So that's beautiful, and I'm so excited to just hear more testimonies of the kids and the families me too, and now that it's at the other school sites you really like created you were like the catalyst for your district. So that's amazing. And I can't wait for the high desert to really be a map for community schools, right? Like to share showcase just all the wonderful work that you've been able to like weave into Hesperia high school, but also your whole school district. So congrats to that. And yeah, I'm so happy to have you here today. So thank you so much for joining us and just sharing your depth of knowledge and your experience here on the podcast, we love sharing these stories from your peers, your colleagues, your community, to share these practices and all the challenges that we face together, and also the triumphs on creating supportive environments for learners. Whether you're an educator, a parent, or simply passionate about education, there's something here for everyone. Thank you for joining us at Beyond Academics, connecting classroom and community, where we dive deep into the stories from people who are making a difference in schools. They are the change makers who bring community schools to life by making an impact for families and children by meeting their needs. Don't forget to connect with us on social media accounts. You can find us on X at         SI_RTACunderscore, Instagram at SBCSS_IEBranch, at our website, CCSPPSIRTAC.ORG,  tune in for more episodes.

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