HoundTracks: Inside Healdsburg's Schools
Conversations with the people shaping Healdsburg's public schools - hear stories, insights and updates from the Healdsburg Unified School District.
HoundTracks: Inside Healdsburg's Schools
All Things College: Insights and Advice from Class of '25 Alumni Allie Espinoza and Ruby Leffew
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Hear about freshman year college experiences and how to take advantage of high school opportunities from graduates attending UC Berkeley and Virginia Tech
Welcome to Hound Tracks, where we bring you real conversations with the people shaping Hillsburg's public schools. I'm Chris Vanenouvel, superintendent of the Hillsburg Unified School District. Each month we'll share stories, insights, and updates from across HUSD. Let's get started. Joining us today, we have two graduates from the class of 2025. We have Ali Espinoza, who just finished her freshman year at UC Berkeley. She's a public health major. At Hillsburg High, she was the ASB president, all-league volleyball player, all-league basketball player. I still miss watching her spin move in the key. She scored a lot of points with that. And then we have Ruby Lefhew, who is at Virginia Tech as a food science major. She also was an all-league athlete in both tennis and basketball, drain in threes. She was big in FFA, just got her American degree and won a lot of buckles while she was here in Healsburg. So Allie and Ruby, thank you so much for being with us today.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_00So let's just start it off. What is, you know, respectively, what's your favorite thing about Berkeley and Virginia Tech? Tell us some highlights.
SPEAKER_01One thing I do love about Berkeley is how diverse it is. I can meet people that are out of state, international, and every single time I walk away from a conversation with them, I'm learning just new perspectives about the world, which is kind of rare to come along in Healsburg because like it's a small town, a lot of the people that I've known my whole life. So it's really cool to learn about new cultures, traditions, and ways of life. Um, I also love how everybody is strong and academic in their academics. Like they care, they hustle, and they have great work ethics, and it just encourages me to be a hustler and to get school done and to just work hard.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. And Healdsburg is a little tiny, small, protected place, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Definitely.
SPEAKER_00Definitely broader horizons in Berkeley. What about you, Ruby?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I really love the community at Virginia Tech. Coming from Healdsburg, I've had such a tight-knit community, small, small college. And then I went to 40,000 student population school, and I really like I feel like I can find I found my people, which is really good. And I found my people because of all the student organizations I was able to join, lots of clubs, and I just feel like everyone wants to get involved and loves to be a hokey, and that's one of my favorite things uh I like about Virginia Tech.
SPEAKER_00Go hoax, right? Yeah, it's fascinating to me. Like you're good friends, and you ended up in dramatically different places, right? It's it's really interesting. And Ruby, I know you passed up Cornell, like, which is a dream for a lot of people just to be able to get into an Ivy, but you chose the the food science program at Virginia Tech uh instead of Cornell. And and I'm sure Allie Berkeley had to be one of your dream schools because like it's hard to beat. So why did you guys choose the college you chose?
SPEAKER_02I chose Virginia Tech because when I went to visit, I got to meet a lot of students, and I liked what they were involved in. I liked their attitude and they felt they like made me feel very welcomed. But also I was excited to try something different, go on an adventure, and I really loved the big sports culture. Love jumping to enter Sandman for football games, love going to all the big basketball games and playing like major other major ACC schools and things like that. So that's a big reason why I chose Virginia Tech. But also, along with the food science program, what they had to offer. I one thing that really intrigued me was actually their food science abroad program in Switzerland, which I just got accepted to, and now I'm going next fall, literally like in August, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_00So you're not going back to Virginia.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, which is crazy, but I'm really excited. I'm gonna miss Virginia for sure, but definitely very excited for that and broaden my food science perspectives for sure.
SPEAKER_00What about you, Allie?
SPEAKER_01So with Berkeley, it's funny because Berkeley wasn't even on my radar. I was like, I'm going to SoCal, I'm going to UCSD, San Diego, UCLA. But when I toured those schools, I didn't really feel a sense of belonging. I was like, it's beautiful, I love the beach, but I don't think I'd thrive here. But when I attended Cal Day, I was super sick. But even though I was really sick, I felt so much joy, and I like couldn't get a smile off my face. And that's when I knew that I would do so well at Berkeley and that I needed to go to that school because it wouldn't make sense to go anywhere else. And I mean it is also the number one public university in the country. So I mean not not too bad, but I just loved the campus, the beautiful area of the bay. It's such so many endless opportunities in the medical field. So I am quite blessed to be able to go there and didn't really see any other option for me.
SPEAKER_00So both of you visiting the campus made a huge difference in your choice. So that's that's something for for other kids to take to walk away with, right? Like go and see it and try to meet people and get the vibe. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Talk to people, go on tours, go to admitted students' day. Like it makes a difference. Yeah. The aesthetic is not what it seems on social media. You need to go and feel it out for yourself and like how you feel in that environment, not just what others say.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when I went, I feel like I could tell, like when I met with like certain food science people and professors, I was like, I know they care about their students, and I could tell that the students cared what they were doing, and also that was like a big reason. Like I wanted to be challenged academically as well.
SPEAKER_00So did you guys, did you both go to and don't we won't bash on colleges and I don't want to be negative, but did you visit campuses where it was like once you got there where you thought, oh, this was gonna be awesome, like you talked about SoCal. Is it and it was just like no, because of the visit. Was that was that a thing that happened for either of you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was nothing against the college itself. It both of the colleges I talked about, they were amazing. And I think that they're good for certain students, but for my goals and like who I am as a person, it just wasn't for me. So I think it's just individualized to the person. I don't think there's anything bad about the college itself, just the vibe and like the feel of it, and that's why it is so important to go on those tours and like put your like put yourself in those shoes and be there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I went on a trip last fall, uh, and I visited Virginia Tech, Tennessee, and Clemson. And I before the trip, I was like, I think I'm going to Clemson. I don't even know why. I just followed the like food science Instagram. They had an ice cream shop that I was like, this is so fun, like big sports. I'm gonna do like like Clemson football is like crazy. And and then I went and I was just like, I don't know if I'd like really fit in here or if this is my vibe, even though I know it's a great university. Go, go tigers, but really go hokies. Yeah, and then like same thing that happened at Cornell. Like I had lunch in the cafeteria at Cornell, and I was like, I don't know who I'd technically be like sitting here with. Like, I don't know if I would easily find my people, and I don't know, Virginia Tech, I just had a feeling I'd find my people easier, and and I did.
SPEAKER_00So it was just like being there, vibes, gut feelings, and making a decision. Yeah, that's good. All right, let's shift back to high school if you can. I know it's been a big year for you both, and it probably feels weird to even talk about high school, but how did Healdsburg High prepare you academically for college?
SPEAKER_01I think that Healdsburg offers endless opportunities to its students. The teachers are so accessible, they're so supportive. We have a great administration staff who brings in good like curriculum and implements teaching ways that help students really thrive. I think as I talked to my peers at Berkeley, a lot of them didn't even have college counselors, which really struck me because without the college counselors that Heelsburg provides us with, I don't think that I'd be at Berkeley because they made sure we were A through G eligible. They made sure that we were involved in what are they called? Again, electives because it enriches your overall academic knowledge. I definitely think that our our coaches here at Healdsburg implemented very good life lessons into like keep working into hustle and to strive for what you think you're worth.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, I think just Healdsburg High. We have a a variety of classes, like freshman year. I got to just like partake in the culinary program ever since then. And then I started learning what food science was, and that's like why I'm studying food science, but also the science classes, and I really I learned that I do like science and I like learning about science and able to take all the even like the AP Bio and the AP chem, which were really hard, but also some of like my most my most favorite because they were challenging, but I was learning, and um, like I was able to take I took ag chemistry while I was here, chemistry and then AP chemistry, and I feel like being able to take all three of those, and then also one of the things that our ag chemistry has you do is create an agroscience paper and come finals for my chem lab in college. I was we were writing all these papers and they like had their abstract, the introduction, the whole deal. And my friends were like, How do you already know how to do this? And I was like, I already did this in high school, like I know the format. I mean, obviously, it's very strenuous, more strenuous work that we did in lab and college, but like still, like I knew the format and knew how to do it, and that was because of my classes I've been able to take here at Healdsburg.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Yeah. Do you so do you guys have any advice for you know anybody at Heelsburg High, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, on like preparing for college? Like, would you have done anything differently or wish you knew certain things? Or just like, oh, I did this and this is really important and I didn't realize how important it was? Those kinds of things?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I feel like for me, um I the one thing like I would tell people to do is I know it's hard to like find out like what you like to do at a young age, but just start doing things that you like to do because in the end, like that's what you want to do with your life is something that you love, something that you're passionate about. And so for me with baking, like I had my own baking business, Ruby Cakes. I was always really involved in the culinary here, and then taking all my science classes and doing FFA and 4-H, and like I feel like being able to build my resume, but like it was really kind of catered towards food science, and I didn't even realize because I didn't even know what food science was until my sophomore year of high school, but just because like those are the things I loved, and then yeah, and then that like helped me cater a resume towards that my major, because I feel like they because you're applying to your major at most of these colleges, and so they really look for stuff like that, I think.
SPEAKER_01Going off of that, I think passion is what really matters. I think that you should choose something that you're very passionate about, whether you see it becoming something you actually do in the future, because the more time you put into something, the more experiences that you could take and write really strong essays. I feel like that's key to getting into colleges because if you're applying to all these competitive colleges, everybody's gonna have a stacked resume. They're all gonna have over a 4.0 GPA, they're all gonna be taking the same APs, they're all gonna be getting fours and fives. But what you write and what shows your character is what makes you stand out and what makes you get into these prestigious colleges. And something that I would do differently myself is I did take APs here at Heelsburg. I took the AP Bio, I took AP World, AP A Push, Lit Lang, but I didn't take as many uh SRJC classes. I think doing duenrollment is a very helpful thing in helping you stack your credits so then you could get your prereqs done quicker so that you can focus on navigating what you want to do as your major and fulfilling your higher division classes because it just makes you get through college faster, so then you can move on to your masters, and you're just getting introduced to that really hard work early on before you're just hit with it like a brick once you get to college.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. One also like to build off that, I feel like one thing that you just have to like tell yourself, like, just just study for your AP test because I got to test out this year. I was should have been in college biology and college, college biology, college calculus. And like my friends that were in those classes really were like, they I mean they were not fun. And so I me being like, well, I I already got the college credit I got, like you got those through APs. I got them through APs, and I went into college like with a ton of APs. And so one of my like biggest advices too is like if you're taking I AP, like you just just push through. I know it's like almost summer, but like you always should push through and like study hard for that because then your life in college will be a lot like I mean, you'll get to your major classes faster, and so it'll feel a lot less like strenuous.
SPEAKER_00And you can take other classes you might have an interest in just to take them, right? Like yeah, you have more freedom in your schedule, which is fun.
SPEAKER_02Which is like fun because college offers like crazy different classes.
SPEAKER_00Did did your internship experience at Hillsburg High help you on your path to college at all?
SPEAKER_01Oh, for sure. Yeah, definitely. Like it definitely I worked at uh I did an internship with Dr. Rachel Majorga here in town, and it definitely allowed me to realize that I do want to work in a clinical setting. I thought it was so cool how I even got to do vitals on the patients and learn about the different ways to heal and medicate these patients, and it was just a really cool experience. And it also allowed me to get an inside foot into clubs at Berkeley because it's super competitive to get into clubs, but since I already had clinical experience, I was one step ahead of all my um competitors basically.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and for me, I got to internship at Amy's Kitchen down in Petaluma, and I did a food science internship, mainly actually with sensory management. And I got to take a sensory class last semester, but I feel like my internship just confirmed that I wanted to study food science. And honestly, going into it, I was like, I before my internship, I had a feeling I wanted to study food science, and I was like, I really hope I like this because I want to study food science, and then I ended up loving it, and it really confirmed that that's what I want to study. And so I feel like definitely trying to find an internship your junior year really, really helps. It helps your resume applying to college, but it also helps you decide like, do I even want to stick with that major or do I want to, or no, I don't want to, and that's like great too, because it's learning, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01And on one last note, if you're invited to go to Boys and Girls State, I know it sounds like a drag, like a week at a summer camp, but go. Like I know 20 people that went to Boys and Girls State, and I can only imagine how many other Boys and Girls State attendees go to Berkeley because I know it looks really good on your resume to have that. So I'd strongly recommend. It's really fun, and yeah, just go.
SPEAKER_00Good word. All right, so is there a teacher or a staff person at Hillsburg High who had a majorly positive impact on you? And what did you learn from them?
SPEAKER_02For me, well, I was really involved in the Culinary program, and while I was here, it was Chef Corsino. Chef loved, loved Chef. He was so helpful in teaching me how to be a better pastry chef, how to be a better chef, but also he just had a hard work ethic too, which I aspired to be like that. And he, I could also see him like as a person, he kind of takes advantage of opportunities, and I feel like that's a big part of life and a part of learning is like if you're offered, like if someone wants to help you, or if you're offered a certain opportunity just to take it, and I feel like he showed me to do that too. But also, without Chef, I wouldn't have known what food science was, and so he introduced that to me by sophomore year. He was like, I can tell you like kind of like your APs, like, and you're kind of doing well in your science classes, but you also like food, and he knew I'm not one to wake up at 3 a.m. and own a bakery, like that was not gonna be me. So he was like, I I think you should like look into food science, and because of that, yeah, I'm that's what I now I'm doing that, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01I would definitely say Miss Reese had a super impactful uh impact on me and Ruby because she was just such an approachable teacher, and she taught us a really important life skill, which is being bilingual. So the way that she does that though is incredible. She encourages students to never give up and to just keep trying, and that it's okay to make mistakes, and then if you just persevere, you'll eventually learn how to do it. I was also lucky to have her as an assistant vol volleyball coach, and she just brought confidence and leadership to the court, and those are some some things that I value, and it was just kind of like a role model figure that she played in the classroom and on the court, which is really fascinating. And she's just very lively and fun, and she brings a different vibe to the classroom, which just makes it exciting to learn and wanting to go to class and anticipating the work that's to come, whether if it's easy, hard, fun, or sometimes just like I don't really want to do this, but at least I'm gonna go have a fun time with Miss Reese.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and she is also our interact advisor. Um, we were both pretty involved in interact. I was like the secretary of my senior year, but she was always just so encouraging, like people should go and volunteer and like go help your community, and like I think that's awesome. Like, she's a really big encourager, so that was a big impact on me as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's awesome. And of course, Chef Corsino moved on and is in Singapore now, I think, with his wife who works in the State Department. And while we miss him, we got Chef Witten who's who's kind of picked up in his place and doing a fantastic job, too. So and then Miss Ruiz, of course, is still spitting the Spanish. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, take Spanish with Miss Ruiz.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so leaving home for college is a crazy experience for everybody. It is. Like, not everybody will admit it, but everybody goes through struggles during that time. What advice would you give to the seniors who are about to walk across the stage in a week and they're leaving in a couple months? Like, how do you navigate that time?
SPEAKER_01I would say to attend as many freshman orientation activities as possible. Get your roommates, get your floor mates, get random people on the street. Like just get anybody who looks friendly, who you could see having a connection with, and just go do something. Whether that's playing board games, eating, walking around campus. It's so important to create relationships within that one week where everybody's super vulnerable so that you create bonds and so that you know somebody the next week. So it's a little bit easier. And I definitely created a community within my dorm building. And I could not imagine my first year at college without those girls. They made Berkeley feel like home. And whenever I was sad to come back from break, I knew I was I knew that there would be light on the end of that tunnel with those girls welcoming me back with open arms. I would also encourage the students that are going to be freshmen next year to really study on that first test. Just study, study, study, and just see what you get because that kind of shapes your the way you study in the future. And it's really important in getting a feel of how hard it college actually is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, to go along with what Ali said, I was just gonna say, yeah, in the first week, I well, I went to Virginia Tech and I know nobody, but I had met like my roommate online, you know. And so I just grab your roommate and like start going to things and go put yourself out there. Just say yes to a lot of things. Like I randomly went to this one event one, like my first night at college, and then I met one of these girls who was in the organization, she was a senior, and then she was like, Let me get your number just in case she texted me the next day to come play cards, and I was like kind of sad that day because I was like totally missing my parents like two days in, and um, I was like, you know, I should just go, like just say, just go, just say yes, just put yourself out there, and then all those girls end up being like my best friends, and so just things like that. Um, but also, yeah, college academically is very hard. So, what Ali said, it's a great thing to sometimes you do gotta like be in the library, but find study buddies as well. Like, it's really important to find people that have like minds. That was really helpful for me, actually, being able to study with another person. That was also really great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, surrounding yourself by people who actually want to put the work in. I've learned that lesson myself because I've had certain study buddies who are just kind of on their phone and not really actually studying, and that's like been like, oh, like I'm fine, like I don't need to study. But no, like you need to study, like it's I hate to say it, but it's not like high school. You can't just look over your past homework and tests like the night before and get an A. You need to put it at least a couple days, maybe a week, into studying and really learning that curriculum so that you excel on those tests. And on another note, I would definitely call your parents. Your parents miss you.
SPEAKER_00Yes, call your parents.
SPEAKER_01They appreciate it too. They want to hear what you're doing, they want to make sure you're safe, and they could really make your day a whole lot better, or they can even, if you're having a good day, they can make it a whole lot brighter by feeding you more positive energy. And calling my parents definitely made my college experience at the beginning better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00So you both talked about putting yourself out there and being Vulnerable, it's kind of awkward than those first hours, days, right? Yeah, yeah, but everybody's in the same boat and you don't even realize it until later. That's an important thing, I think, for everybody to remember. How long would you guys say it took you to get acclimated? Like to where you weren't homesick anymore, and like this is my place, these are my people. And be honest, it's okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, for me, I feel like I don't really remember the timeline. Definitely, I remember actually calling my parents a couple weeks in, and I was like, I met these girls, I want to be in their friend group, but like I met them all after they had all met each other. So I was like, I was not in the group chat, that type of deal. And I was like, hmm, but and so yeah, that's like one thing of just like and my parents like you're fine, like you're gonna be fine. Anyway, that's kind of back on the last question, but I feel like it takes a minute, but this was like a month, a month or two months, like six, six, eight weeks somewhere like that. Yeah, yeah. But then also it's it was so fun, it was so such a different experience, I think, to come back spring semester for me because like I got to go back and like I missed all my best friends that I had made. And I feel like also one thing in college is that you make friends so much faster just because you're with them, but you're always within like the same radius as them too. Like we're literally, we just live like down the hall or a few blocks away. Like, and so I feel like you're gonna make friends faster, but it's just a matter of yeah, being also being patient with it. Like it you don't need to rush into everything, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01To be extremely honest, I didn't really get acclimated until two weeks before I left for winter break. I was like, I want to go home. This is so hard. I just miss my family and friends. But then when it hit dead week, which is a week at Berkeley where we just have a week of studying before finals, I really just got to relax and actually hang out with my friends because honestly, I was just studying. Like, I didn't have very many extracurriculars going on, like I was just trying to get good grades. So once I had a little bit of a break, I was like, this place is really cool. Like, I just need to take a step back and like be grateful for everything that's available here at Berkeley. And be now that I'm saying that, I just want to let people know that it's okay to not get acclimated as soon as other people like I knew it was hard for me to see people who were already having like a blast and like going on trips with their friends already, and I was like, I like am I doing college right? Like, am I doing it wrong? Like, where where did I go wrong? But now that I've been back for my spring semester, it's been amazing, and I just needed to take a breath and realize that everything was eventually going to be okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02And I feel like once you're like acclimated, but there's still gonna be some days where you're like, I like I'm pretty homesick or I miss my parents. I wish I could just give give my mom or give my dad a hug and things like that.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, that's that's gonna happen. But I think it's important for people to give themselves grace, and though it's gonna take time and everybody's on a different path, and it's hard for everyone even though they don't act like it, right? Yeah, definitely. Okay, so last question. How's it feel to be home? We talked about being homesick. So, what what are some things back here in Healsburger at home that you were pumped about getting back to?
SPEAKER_02Ooh. Okay, one thing. It's great to be back, great to be home. It's I was pumped to like just see familiar faces because I mean, you know, if you go downtown, you're bound to run into somebody and just be like, oh hi. Some some funny things that I look forward to. The bread here, guys, is way different than the bread on the East Coast. I always sourdough. I was like, not even like even the sourdough over there, not the same, not the same. So I was really looking forward to coming back to the bread. And I had that for my first meal my mom got for when I got back. And that was pretty great. But yeah, just coming back to Hillsburg and having like just everybody, like, you know, I feel like you just walk around and you just find someone you know, which is always nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it feels great to be back in Hillsburg. Um, I miss my family, my friends, and just the local community. We have a really special community here in Heillsburg, and it's so great to just see a familiar face, like Ruby said, and I just feel like you know every crevice of Heillsburg, and it's just kind of cool when coming back from a big city. One thing that I'm looking forward to is just going to the river, going to the beach again, the amazing Mexican food we have here. People tell me that there's good Mexican food in Berkeley. Maybe I haven't found it, but I think they're lying to me. I think the Mexican food is so much better here. Oh much better than Virginia. Yeah. We we won't even have a debate about that. Um, but yeah, I'm just excited to like start working again, start seeing my friends, getting back into a workout routine as an ex-athlete because it kind of fell off when you're hitting the books 24-7. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's fun to like reconnect with your old high school friends, like Ali.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for being on this today. And I think you gave some really good wisdom for the kids that are leaving for school next, well, in August, right? So, but they're graduating next week, so this is fresh on their mind. So thank you both.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for having us. Great.
SPEAKER_00And to the listeners, if you like what you heard, be sure to follow us and share the episode with your friends and family. We'll be back next month with more insights from across our schools. Until then, take care and thank you for being part of our school community.