Izzie Villanueva

they/them

Class of

2013

Izabela “Izzie” Villanueva, M.S. (pronouns: they/them/theirs) received their Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Asian American Studies with minors in Education and Sexuality Studies from UC Davis as well as Master’s degree in Critical Ethnic and Community Studies from UMass Boston. Inspired by the resiliency of their communities and the desire to empower BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students, Izzie has worked as an educator in different K-12 and higher education systems for over 8 years. Izzie is currently serving as the inaugural Basic Needs Coordinator for Berkeley City College.

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

Care less about what others think and love yourself a lot more.

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?

What experience had the greatest impact on you at EVHS?

I don't have many positive experiences from my time at EVHS, most of the greatest impacts on me were negative because of remarks from staff, teachers, and other students. I never really felt supported or as though I could be myself (nor did I have the room to explore who I was and/or wanted to be). In a way this experience led me to become an educator -- I wanted to be able to provide a space and/or mentorship to others since I did not receive that.

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

I only have two friends I keep in constant contact with from high school. I think any type of relationship "break up" is challenging to navigate as people change and grow with time. I feel grateful that I have two people who continued to stick with me through the last 10 years and I still talk to and meet up with regularly. They were supportive of me as I changed and I want to believe I was supportive of them as well. I learned that sometimes not everyone is "meant to be" in my life and that is okay because the people who are meant to stick around will as much time and effort as I do.

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

I have a lot of complicated feelings about this question. I think growing up a lot of people told me "You have to leave San Jose to "make it". You can't get "stuck" here." as if San Jose is 'bad' place to be. I internalized that a lot and wanted to leave and never come back. However, after leaving and coming back I have appreciated it a lot more; for two years I chose to work in a nonprofit that helped students from various high schools in San Jose. I currently work in the East Bay so I live here for convenience but I do visit my family in San Jose often.

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

My favorite class was AP English in 11th grade with Ms. McMillan. I also played the guitar prior to taking the elective at EV.

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?

I am working as the first Basic Needs Coordinator at Berkeley City College.