“ There ' s so much darkness in this world that sometimes it ' s good to just be a light,” Guzman said.

Guzman’ s official duties include keeping track of when students are not in class, making phone calls to their homes and helping parents and other staff members with attendance related questions as needed. But what she brings to her campus goes far beyond the on-paper job requirements.

“ Yulissa is truly the heart and soul of our office, keeping the energy and positivity flowing every day,” said coworker Chao Lee.“ She possesses a unique ability to ensure every student and parent who visits our office feels heard and valued.”

Guzman knows firsthand how important this support is, because it’ s help she once relied on. She started at Sunnyside her freshman year, but by the time Guzman was a junior, her parents had gone through a divorce and she and her boyfriend found out they were expecting a baby. She was 17 years old, from a low-income household, the oldest of five siblings( now seven) and had taken it upon herself to hold things together while looking after, and helping raise, her brothers and sisters.

“ My whole world turned upside down around that time,” she said,“ I had a lot on my shoulders. I did carry a lot. I kind of wanted someone to be like,‘ Is there something I can help you with? What ' s going on?’”

Guzman ended up finishing high school at a local charter school, but says she had several teachers step up as mentors during her time at Sunnyside, and believes those connections made all the difference. She now hopes to have the same positive impact on the students she works with.

“ I can connect with them in some ways, and I can empathize with them. I know they may be young, but they still have struggles,” she said.

Guzman makes it a point to acknowledge students with poor attendance with words like“ It’ s so good to see you,” instead of“ Where have you been?” because she knows“ flipping those words around makes a big difference.”

Guzman recently worked with a student, who like herself became pregnant at a young age.

“ I told her, things will be hard, but you can do it if you put your mind to it. You have the choice to succeed in front of you, it’ s all in what you choose to do,” she said.

Guzman is happy to report that student will be graduating in June and continuing her education in college.

Although it’ s taken a bit longer, Guzman is doing the same. She’ s currently finishing up at Fresno City College and planning to attend National University next spring for her bachelor’ s in psychology. She would like to go into either academic or restorative counseling. Her baby girl is now a fearless and creative 9-year-old, whose father is Guzman’ s husband and coworker, working as a restorative counselor and football coach at Sunnyside. The pair also now have a 3-year-old boy together.

Yulissa Guzman ' s role goes beyond keeping track of attendance, she works with students like senior Sariyah Small daily, helping them stay on the right path to success.

Guzman’ s life has gone from stalled to stellar, and she wants every student to know they too can overcome anything that gets thrown at them, but when things may seem too difficult, her door is always open.

“ There are challenges in life. There always will be. But I tell them to put your faith and your trust in yourself and just keep fighting, because you ' re going to prevail,” she said.

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