John Gonzales

Professor

“The one thing I’m proud of is I feel I can counsel anyone: any color, any age, any nationality.”

John Gonzales came to the U.S.—speaking no English—from the state of Jalisco in Mexico when he was 13. He later taught high school for 15 years and now, in his fourth year in counseling at SMC, he reports, “There’s never been a dull moment!”

John has run the Latino Center for the past three years in a program that has rapidly become a central part of SMC life. “The administration gave me a lot of leeway to develop programs beneficial to all Latinos,” he says. “They just told me to go and get things done.” He’s proud of the center’s success, and proud that he was elected chairman of the counseling department as well. “I have a deep gratitude to my fellow counselors for appreciating the kind of work I do.”

John says that “making students aware of their possibilities is the first job of the SMC counselors. It’s exciting because we help to take the intimidation out of learning to work within the system. The key to being successful in life is learning to navigate,” he continues. “And once people learn some critical thinking and communication skills, the background they come from really doesn’t matter so much.”

John has recently become a fanatic skier where he’s discovered “a real individual freedom. If you do well, or if you wipe out, it’s up to you yourself to keep on going.”

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