Who Can I Help? Yadira Castro works to be the counselor she needed

Yadira Castro (MA ’20, BA ’09) was only seven years old when she started working alongside her dad and siblings in the Central Valley’s grape fields. She recalls the responsibility she carried on her young shoulders as a duty to help support her family. Now, she looks back on that duty as a blessing and an accomplishment. “I carry that time with honor,” she says through tears. “That experience of having to work so young instilled in me the importance of education and started transforming me for my calling.”

Growing up in an immigrant family perfectly prepared her to serve the high school students currently walking through the struggles she experienced firsthand, Castro believes. As a bilingual academic counselor at Fresno High School, she spends each day being the kind of counselor she wishes she’d had. “When my students feel unseen and unheard, I want them to know that I’ve been there,” she says. “I present myself as the school counselor that I wanted — to be purposeful and healing.” Castro credits FPU with helping her step into what she believes to be her God-given calling. “FPU deepened the assurance that I could be who I am today,” she says. “I felt seen and supported and guided, both academically and spiritually.”

Like her students today, Castro describes the high school version of herself as “unseen.” She recalls that none of her teachers or counselors believed in her, and no one expected or encouraged her to go to college. After graduating from Washington Union High School, she went straight into the corporate world and worked at Pelco, makers of security technology, for 13 years. It took ten years for her to earn her associate degree from Fresno City College, and at age 35, she earned her B.A. in Organizational Leadership from FPU. Throughout their 24-year marriage, she and her husband, Juan, whom she calls her biggest supporter, took turns completing college while raising their sons, 13-year-old Juanito and 11-year-old Joaquin.

Laid off from Pelco shortly after becoming a mom, Castro focused on her kids for eight years before returning to FPU to become a school counselor. Her in-person graduation ceremony was rescheduled three times due to COVID, but she finally walked in December 2021 to mark her accomplishment.

Finding a sense of belonging

From her initial visit to FPU, Castro knew it was where the Lord wanted her to be. It was the first time in her educational journey she felt like she belonged, and she prioritizes sharing that sense of belonging with her students. “I wholeheartedly believe having a sense of inclusion helps my personal daily mission,” she says. “I always pray to be a servant of God and that he’ll use me to help kids.’”

As a child of Mexican immigrants, Castro remembers how difficult it was for her parents to be active participants in her education. Now, she uses her voice to be the voice for her students’ Spanish-speaking parents. She meets with them after school hours, sets up their phones to receive school notifications and helps connect them with the resources they need. “I want to be the counselor that makes sure families are connected,” she says. “I want to overwhelm them with information.”

Following the American Dream

Last spring, Castro had a student whose undocumented parents wouldn’t attend his graduation ceremony for fear of deportation. She told him she was proud of him for showing up anyway. Her own parents came to the U.S. in search of a better life, but not without roadblocks and setbacks. During their first attempt to settle in the U.S., her dad was picked up for deportation. Because her mom was nine months pregnant with her brother, the immigration officer allowed them to stay until she gave birth. Two weeks after her brother was born, the family reported to the immigration office to self-deport as instructed, much to the surprise of the immigration officer. “My family still prays for that immigration officer,” she says, as her brother’s birth in the U.S. paved the way for them to later return and become legal residents.

Before Castro and her twin sister were even a year old, her family left their ranch in Guadalajara that had no plumbing, no running water and no work in the area to support a growing family. Castro’s mom crossed the border with one baby strapped to her front and the other to her back. “My parents really came here for the opportunity to work,” she says. “They came to the U.S. for the American Dream.” Castro and her three siblings were raised with the expectation that if they wanted water to shower, food in the refrigerator and lights that turned on and off with a switch, they had to work for it.

Castro doesn’t lament the hours of her childhood spent working in the grape fields, as that time shaped the work ethic she has today. Rather, she recalls growing up in a family centered in God’s presence because they had so much to be thankful for. “It made me stronger, more appreciative, more understanding, and I can give part of that to my students now,” she says. “I believe everything happens for a reason and all our experiences have a purpose.” All six members of Castro’s childhood family are now American citizens.

In her roles as wife, soccer mom, Catechism teacher and school counselor, Castro shares her faith with those the Lord places in her path. “Our steps in life are always in God’s presence,” she says. “We cross three dimensions in life: what we learn from, what we grow from and how we use it to help others.”