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Jerry Flores |
Jerry Flores is living proof that the transformative
power of education permeates Grossmont College.
Flores, who turns 29 in August, says he was hardly
interested getting good grades as a kid. A solid educational grounding? Not even an afterthought. “I failed almost
every class in high school,” Flores said.
But after enrolling in a continuation school with smaller
classrooms and dedicated teachers, the idea of securing a degree suddenly
interested him. Flores eventually moved to La Mesa to be with his future wife
and opted to attend Grossmont College.
It was among the best moves Flores has made. “Everybody
was so nice, everybody was so professional. It was a perfect fit.”
After excelling at Grossmont College and earning an
associate degree, Flores transferred to San Diego State University, where he
earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology before getting a Ph.D. in
the subject at UC Santa Barbara. The University of Washington, Tacoma, just
hired him as an assistant professor, and he will be teaching courses there this
fall in the school’s Department of Social Work. He also will spend much of the
coming year furthering his research on incarcerated youth via the University of
California Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.
Grossmont College, Flores said, played a critical role in
his turnaround. He was a student at the El Cajon campus from 2004-06.
“Grossmont just had the most caring, compassionate
instructors,” Flores said. “Professors like Dr. Carlos Contreras in the history
department were always willing to sit down and talk with me. His mentorship and
the mentorship of other professors was key when I was transforming my life. My
success has come through a combination of hard work and opportunity, and
Grossmont really gave me an opportunity.”
It was an opportunity that just a few years earlier had
never crossed his mind.
“I grew up in a predominantly working class Mexican enclave
in Pasadena, California. Schooling was not seen as a viable source of
opportunity or empowerment,” Flores said in a recent speech to a group of
education officials. “We had few academic role models in my neighborhood and
little social capital. I always expected myself to join the ranks of automotive
repair workers like my father, and no adult ever challenged my conception.”
Carlos
Contreras, an associate professor of history at Grossmont College who remains
close to Flores, said his former student serves as an inspiration.
“He is a
testament to the power of education,” Contreras said. “He is showing us that
through education, whether it is in the secondary system, whether it is in the
community college system, whether it is in the university system, or whether it
is in the jail system, that it is through education that we can begin to chip
away at social and economic injustice.”
Flores’ background has inspired him in his research. He
wrote his master’s thesis on the teaching practices of instructors at juvenile
detention centers in San Diego County. His doctoral dissertation analyzed the experiences of incarcerated Latinas in a
juvenile detention facility and community school in California. He has already
secured a book contract from University of California press to turn this
research into a book.
“I’m
interested in the transformative effect of education because of the effect that
education had on me. I would not be where I am today without Grossmont College
and the second at success they awarded me,” said Flores, a Ford Foundation
Fellow.
He hopes
his experiences can continue to inspire other students from all backgrounds to
pursue a higher education.