Gabrielle Lê

she/her

Class of

2014

My name is Gabrielle and I graduated from EVHS in 2014. Im currently working as an advisor for community college, trade school, and work force students, who graduated from Cindy Avitia High School. I’ve been working in education for the past 5 years through non-profits and colleges. I’ve always been interested in education as a career and pursued my B.A in Linguistics at SJSU. Originally, I intended to teach English abroad in Japan, but after trying that out, I came back to work in non-profits for 3 years before venturing into my masters program. I was also a pandemic student during my M.A in Higher Education and Student Affairs program at University of San Francisco and understand the difficulty. Other than that, in my free time, I enjoy hiking, vlogging, thrifting, and attending kpop cupsleeve events 😂.

If you could give your high school self a piece of advice, what would it be?

I would probably tell her to not box herself into only San Jose school. Even though I knew that I wanted to attend a 4-year, I felt like it would be easier to just stay home and complete my education here. I would probably choose the same path if I had to redo it, but I’d also not limit myself to just San Jose. I’d also tell myself to not be so hard on myself about trying to be as “smart” as my peers. Not sure how EVHS is like now, but back then the rigor and pressures felt there was real. We all were pushed to go to a 4-yr only and we all were pushed to be academically “the best.” I gave up on that a long time ago, because I was an average student in a school full of students competing for high grades and GPA. The thing is that stuff matters to an extent, but colleges are trying to understand you as a person and how having an education there can help you as you venture into the world. My last advice to myself is to take care of my mental health and to not compare myself to others too much. I think that really hurt me a lot and made me feel bad about myself, because I felt like a loser sometimes for wanting work in education, but overtime I realized that it didn’t matter what other people thought, because the career you choose should be of course achievable, but also make you happy money aside.

Did you have any goals that pushed you throughout high school? How did you approach those? Are you still pursuing them now that you're out of high school? If not, why?

I guess I answered it a bit up above, but I changed my mind a few times in high school. I wanted to work in the medical field as a hematologist at one point, but math and science were too difficult for me. Then I flip flopped a lot between education and other things too, but always went back to education. The thing is, y’all should know that past high school, you’ll try things and you may or may not decide that one career you started off with is not what you like anymore, but it’s okay. I worked with young children for a long time, but it took 4-5 years to realize I enjoy working with older college students more. It’s sooooo fulfilling and rewarding to be able to help young adults figure out their pathway and who they will be out there in the world. I wanted to be someone for young people that I never sought out or never had. I really figured out college and even going to grad school through trial and error.

What experience had the greatest impact on you at EVHS?

It’s been so long, but I always enjoyed Battle and honestly just sitting by the palm trees area with my friends who I’m still best friends with 11 years later. Working on homework last minute together and sometimes bothering Mrs. Nguyễn, my Vietnamese teacher during breaks were some of my fondest memories. Honestly, Mrs. Nguyễno’s class was probably a lot of student’s safe place, because she was like our school mom. You can tell she really cared for us.

Have you kept some relationships with the people you were with in high school?

I guess I just answered that! Yes! I’m still best friends with 6 people from high school. We have been in each other’s lives for 11 years now. It’s difficult since we have been through a lot of childish moments, hard moments, and even through all that we grow together and as friends adults, we are still close despite being in different states. You just need to remember to keep the real life long friends close, because even when it gets hard in college or wherever you are, you need people whom you trust to confide in and real talk things out with. You need a strong support group, now, but even more as you grow up. Those people are truly hard to come by.

Do you still live in San Jose? Why or why not?

Yes! I moved back after finishing grad school, because it’s expensive to live on your own even for that one year and I have my job here.

What was your primary academic/extracurricular focus in high school?

Fashion Club - I was a club officer
Korean Culture Club - I was the Vice President of this club I believe
American Red Cross Club - I was an active member all four years
I was in a few other clubs, but most of my clubs were originally focused deep in on a future medical career, but in the end, I went with what I knew I’d enjoy.

Are you in college? If so, which college and what major? Are you working? If so, where? If you're not in either of these, what are you doing now?

No, I work at a public school now.