By Crystal Hui
Yvonne Serrano has always harbored a deep love for her family and students, which is evident the moment one walks into her room and notices the many pictures on her walls and desk.
Although she isn’t new to the district, Serrano is a new addition to the Baron family. She teaches Essentials Algebra A and B, and a section of compote English. “I love it – it’s a very collaboratively centered school, so it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of closed doors…the majority of the kids are on point and their characters are super strong.” She taught for four years at Marina in the autism program and has worked on the district inclusion system for three and a half years.
In her spare time, Serrano loves to experiment with photography, get involved with community service projects, and spend time with her six year-old daughter. “A lot of my time goes into the positive reinforcement systems we have here,” she said.
Serrano’s goal in life has always been to help others. “In the beginning I was focused on social work and helping people in general,” she said, “and I realized [in the time that she was working with the district in special needs] that was what I wanted to do.”
Serrano believes that people with special needs aren’t getting as much attention as they should. “I wanted to help people and find ways to teach them complex ideas that other people were learning, but they were hitting a wall.”
Her past experiences have inspired her to help others that have difficult obstacles to overcome in their lives. “My upbringing wasn’t very easy and the terrain was very rugged,” Serrano said. “My drive is to help plant that seed of motivation.
Being able to accomplish the things that I’ve accomplished with the things I had standing in my way made me want to encourage others with like obstacles to over come and achieve the same goals they have and the dreams they want to accomplish.”
