Alumni Garcia is here to stay

Jena Garcia, now known as Ms. Garcia, or Coach Jena, is one of our school’s newest teachers, as well as our girls volleyball coach. She is a powerful coach, pushing her team to strive for greatness. 

During her time here at CVHS, Garcia was known as a student, peer, teammate, captain, and award winner. But who is she? Garcia was an all-time athlete of CVHS, sporting herself as a captain on both the CVHS volleyball and swim team. She was awarded the Herculean Award, given to those who spent a large amount of their time as a part of different school teams in their four years. 

While attending the schools years ago, Garcia had fond times cheering on at football games, dressing for Homecoming, and being a part of the welcoming environment found at CVHS. She hopes that she had left a positive impact on those around her, someone who worked hard and got along with both teachers and peers.

After graduating from CVHS, Garcia attended San Diego State University for kinesiology, with an emphasis on physical therapy. At the moment, Garcia is taking a gap year before next attending graduate school. She decided to journey back home and be a volleyball coach, but while here there was another position available as well. 

Garcia, having a science-related degree found the opportunity of being a long-term substitute teacher for a chemistry class to be a great idea, she was excited to start the teaching chapter of her life. Garcia wants to be someone who impacts people’s lives, she wants to help people through physical therapy, healing, and teaching, “and be someone that students can learn and enjoy learning from.”

Garcia is a determined educator who wants to see her students succeed. As an alumni, she understands some of the aspects of the school from a student perspective. 

Garcia wants to be open and understanding to her students and learn from both her mistakes, and from the other academic resources around the school—especially from her close ally, Laura O’Brien.

Garcia has found teaching to be fun and has found a love for her students, who she wishes to feel valued and happy. Together with multiple accounts from her students, she is quite liked and is a reliable source of help. Garcia is a shining star in an ever-expanding night, returning to her roots to work in the community that raised her. 

Together, O’Brien and Garcia voiced their opinion on swapping temporary teachers due to them not being full hires. The two of them agreed that it would be more beneficial to the students for her to stay for the rest of the school year.

Though she may have only been the chemistry teacher for a teacherless class for no more than another month, with her and O’Brien’s view of stability in a classroom she has earned her right to stay.  Even as she is now the teacher of classroom 764 for the rest of the school year, she still wants to leave a thoughtful impact on her students. She wants her students to be left with this: “The greatest piece of advice I can give to students is that they should go through high school being as authentic as possible. Do the things that make you happy and don’t feel the need to seek approval from others.”