Episode Transcript

Guest: Esmeralda Garcia, Director of Expanded Learning, Calexico Unified
Host: Michael Vilardo, Co-founder & CEO of Subject

Michael Vilardo (00:12-00:37):
Welcome back to another episode of On the Subject. I’m your host. Michael Vilardo, co-founder and CEO of Subject, Subject.com, Subject.ai. You know where to find us. We’re extremely excited for today’s guest. We’re finally back on our home turf in southern California, with arguably the farthest South district in California. Potentially, we might have to discuss that. An incredible educator, director of expanded learning at Calexico Unified, Esmeralda Garcia.

Thank you for joining us today.

Esmeralda Garcia (00:38-00:39):
Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Michael Vilardo (00:39-00:48):
No, we’re so excited and we’re so indebted to you and everything you do for your students.

And that’s always where I really like to start is like, why?

Why do you want to be in education? why do you care so much about helping people?

Esmeralda Garcia (00:50-01:46):
Honestly, I had one teacher that I can still think back that invested in making sure that I was moving forward and as I got older. And you meet tons of teachers, professors, counselors, everyone in the education field, not everybody. Is that game changer for students? And early on in my career, I got into social work and I saw just how much the education No field failed our kids. And I wanted to be a champion for kids, and so I went into education.

For that, and the reason that I do what I do now, I have the unique opportunity to bring kids what their parents can’t give. So in expanded learning, we’re just a playing field. We’re there to even out the access and the resources to kids that might not have access and resources given to them. So that’s why I do what I do.

Michael Vilardo (01:46-02:09):
And that’s what’s so beautiful about education. You’re such an inspiration because you’re fighting for every student. To have equity. And to have a chance to be able to compete and pursue the life that they want in their life. That’s absolutely beautiful. So tell me more about this program? I’ve heard such great things from our teammates here at Subject and it sounds like it’s really unique in the space, this after school situation.

Tell us about it. How did you be able to will this into existence?

Esmeralda Garcia (02:10-03:48):
Wow, well, my journey started 11 years ago. I came into education as a new counselor and I was looking to connect with kids. Someone said, Hey, come into after school, you could connect with kids anytime after school.

And so I did, and I fell in love with it. So I came up with people in my field that were fighting the fight. We are not very fortunate to have one of the biggest budgets when it comes around education. But what makes my programs different, and what makes them thrive, is my ability to believe that we can make changes in students lives beyond the school belt. And so I can tell you that my programs are great because I have that vision of making them great.

And so I spend countless hours after school, on weekends, providing programming. Because I have a vision that no matter how much I accomplish, there’s so much more that I can bring kids. And so one of those things has been credit recovery, ballet painting like art. Academic intervention, alongside credit recovery for our lower grades is really getting them to recover some of those skills that they might have missed due to pandemic, due to access. And so what makes us great is my vision, but also the great team that I have and the people that I surround myself with, including Subject, have a lot of partners in our community with vendors. But what really brings it to life is the fact that it’s not just the vision, it’s pushing through those incremental steps to implementation.

Michael Vilardo (03:49-04:04):
Yeah, I love what you talk about. Recruiting a team, it’s all about team, we say here, Championship sports, team mentality. We’re trying to win the N.B.A. title, Stanley Cup. It’s about the people you surround yourself with.

What’s it been like being able to recruit so many great educators in Imperial County to work with your leadership?

Esmeralda Garcia (04:05-04:11):
I think it speaks to the type of leader that I am. To be honest with you, I am very humble, but I’ve come to the realization.

Michael Vilardo (04:11-04:33):
This is time to shine the light on you. This is great and she is so humble, but this is so special.

Your recruiting ability, especially because what you’ve been able to do and take kids at risk and put them in an educational setting after school. That takes an incredible team and the vision leads that team. How much of a shared mission do you and your leaders share? How did you recruit them?

Esmeralda Garcia (04:34-05:25):
So I always start off by bringing in people to my fold. I’ll entice them with support for their classroom, with some extra funding for materials, and giving them access to great field trips and things like that. And so I always entice them with little things. And once they see the magic that we make happen. I mean, once you drink the punch, you can’t really go back, right? And so that’s really been the way that my leadership works.

Is I like to show people that I’m not just here to talk about what I do? But I’m in the trenches. I show up for Saturday programming. If kids need to be served food, I’m going to serve food, if trash needs to be collected, I’m going to collect trash. That’s just the leader that I am.

And I think that people appreciate working alongside you and they get to share your vision that way, they get to see you do the work.

Michael Vilardo (05:25-05:57):
No job is beneath you. Mentality is absolutely infectious and definitely admire that about you. One thing we do love when we culminate these podcasts is whether it’s a teacher or a student, and it could be anonymous. But if you want to give them a shout out. We love to express gratitude here towards an individual in the education space that really helped affect you for the positive. So, whether that’s a teacher from your growing up or in your shoes now today, a student that’s really inspired you and made you a better person. We’d love to thank them into the camera and shout them out and the podcast.

Esmeralda Garcia (05:58-06:00):
Perfect. I can think of two people.

Michael Vilardo (06:00-06:01):
Let’s give them two, two shout outs.

Esmeralda Garcia (06:02-06:52):
I had this student my first year, Brittany, she’s passed away now. But I think that for the short time that I was in her life, I really was a champion for her. And she came back several years after and just thanked me for never giving up on her. I remember going to her house and not letting her be absent. I was like, You are going to school?

So I always think of Brittany when I have tough days because that’s why I do what I do and the other person is. And Subject is very familiar with Brisa. Brisa was my mentor coming up in the ranks as an administrator. She says that she didn’t think that I would bring the programs to what they are now, because we were very different when I started. But it was her ability to believe in me and show me leadership that has made me the leader I am today.

Michael Vilardo (06:52-07:24):
I think the biggest thing you could take from this incredible conversation is believing in people, especially when they don’t believe in themselves. If you could give them that confidence, it’s really special. And it’s clearly what you’ve done for some individuals. And we’re thankful for you being in our lives. And how many students you’ve affected over the course of your career? And we’re excited to have a long journey ahead together.

And really, please follow us on YouTube, Spotify, click click Subscribe comment down below.

To hear incredible episodes like this highlighting innovative education. Thank you so much for your time, Esmeralda. This is incredible.

Esmeralda Garcia (07:24-07:25):
Thank you for having me.