‘Fair View Effect’: Chico’s alt-ed campus celebrates success stories
CHICO — Like his classmates, Alexander Melendez had anything but a direct path to his high school graduation.
The oldest of five siblings, Melendez came to Chico when his family moved from Virginia. He enrolled at Chico High, but “school was never much my thing,” he admitted. “Growing up, I didn’t really do much in school; I was always paying attention to other stuff.”
Not surprisingly, then, Melendez skipped a lot of his freshman year and essentially all of his junior year at CHS. That brought him to Fair View, the Chico Unified School District’s alternative education campus that includes the titular school as well as independent study school Oakdale .
Flash forward to Friday morning: Melendez became the first in his family to receive a high school diploma — one of 28 seniors from Fair View and 35 from Oakdale who marked this milestone at DeGarmo Park.
“I never really cared about school; I never felt like I had support,” Melendez said Wednesday during a break between a commencement photo session and the senior picnic on campus. “I always wanted to continue school, but at the same time, I just didn’t have the liking for it.
“Coming here, with the staff, a lot changed (with) my perspective on school. I felt like I had a fair opportunity to make something of my life, which was something I wasn’t used to.”
Melendez called his transformation “The Fair View Effect.”
His story is distinct yet shares common threads with students past and present. Principal Andrew Moll has witnessed comparable transformations across a decade at the alt-ed site, which also houses Academy for Change and the Center for Alternative Learning.
Some students come for a brief time, catch up on credits and return to their previous school. Others remain longer. Those who stay through graduation share two characteristics, he said: resiliency and courage.
“They inspire us,” Moll said. “When we learn their stories, it’s amazing to see that turnaround.”
Ceremony
Indeed, as Melendez stated during his commencement speech, “Everyone who comes to Fair View comes with a story.” That applies to Oakdale as well.
Emerald Parker shared her journey before and during the ceremony. She didn’t attend high school until 10th grade and, even at that point, “I didn’t really care for school.” Then she got pregnant with her daughter, Elena, and gave birth last spring. Oakdale gave her the flexibility to pursue an education as a young mother.
“I had to do it,” Parker said about getting her degree, “not just for me but for my daughter, so I changed myself and my life.”
Gladys Calvillo-Hernandez, the Fair View graduate who served as the ceremony’s emcee, likewise told her story — in both English and Spanish. The youngest of four siblings, she came to Chico from Mexico six years ago not speaking English. She, like Melendez, missed significant amounts of her freshman and junior years at Chico High.
Moving over to Fair View, “this was the first year I came to school every day.”
Two other graduates, Monse Santos (Fair View) and Katie Flores (Oakdale) also addressed the crowd and classmates.
“Endings are inevitable,” Flores said. “As I look out at all of you today, my heart is filled with gratitude.”
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