Hayward Youngster of the Month

Sytlali Govea Hernández is a 13 year old 8th grade ‘Wildcat’ student at Winton Middle School, who is not 100% Made in Hayward, since she was born in East Palo Alto, although she lived there only one day. The rest of her life, in Hayward! She is bit on the shy timid side, sometimes referring to herself as a ‘nerd’, but has a very quick smile that lights up her face, when something pleases her.

Family is dad, mom, younger sister, older brother, plus Rose, their dog. Her parents hail from Michoacán, a beautiful state in México, next to my home state of Jalisco, and get this, from Zináparo, where wife and I attended the weeding of two of our godchildren. Small world indeed. Sytlali has never been to Michoacán, so we both turned to her dad and asked him when he would take the family for a visit. ‘Soon’, he said.

That got us talking about her bilingualism and biculturalism, something that gives her pride. Food from México is what she appreciates more. Her Spanish is perfect, by the way, and, you might ask, her English? Well, a perfect score of 2745 on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in English Language Arts! Not only that, her score was also perfect in Math!

Her motivators are down to earth...her parents. The pride that she has seen in them when she has come home with good grades fills her with her own pride, and, most importantly, motivation to do even better. That leads to her motivating herself to excel. “Do the best you can” guides her, and she recommends it to everyone. She also appreciates her teachers. She tells me that her good work ethic also comes from the Puente Project at her school, as it pushes her with lots of work, which she knows that she has to do. Her GPA is a healthy 3.8.

Sytlali is looking forward to four years at Hayward High School, after which, either Cal or Stanford, and even our own Cal State Hayward, to study either medicine or teaching, and be a doctor or a teacher. You have to love those objectives. Told her that she could teach English at Chabot College across the street - we met at eOn Café - and her eyes lit up.

As a good Haywardian, she would rather return to her City, to give back to her community, and at the moment, she helps through community service by helping her elderly neighbors with chores that they are unable to do on their own.

Her three likes are writing, reading and manual arts. Writing as in poetry, and her favorite poet is Tupac, citing ‘The rose who grew from concrete’, as she considers him ‘realistic, simple with natural language’. She told me that she would share a bit of her poetry, which, according to her, is also with simple language. In reading, she likes the mysteries of Roald Dahl, especially ‘The Witches’, because it’s funny and creative. At her young age, she still has many excellent poets and writers to read, and promised me that she her reading list will increase soon. Besides these activities, she also loves to play with her siblings, take walks, and eat in restaurants, with the family.

Since her much younger day, beginning in the 3rd grade, playing with play dough, she has become adept at creating art with her hands, using used house material that can be recycled by her. Maybe we’ll see her art in exhibit one of these days.

Miss Govea Hernández's three dislikes? Anything that causes damage to our planet. Love it, I must admit. Like me, she hates deforestation, especially when we do not replant trees after killing a forest. She and her family recycle and walk whenever possible. Her Principal, Lisa Tess tells me that Sytlali “is concerned about the environment and what is happening to our earth.” This is a positive, environmentally conscious young lady who will go far.

Injustices to and bad treatment of animals is a close second in her dislikes, which means that their dog, Rose, must have a great life at home. It’s one of my major dislikes too, which brought her a smile.

I had never met this family, believe me, but we sure are connected! She and I also share her third dislike...racism! She tells me we should not treat others indifferently, just because someone looks different. Her likes and dislikes impress me, especially for being only 13 years of age.

I mentioned my idols with her, and we share one...Martin Luther King Jr., because he realized his objectives without ever using violence, and that has impressed her tremendously.

Our interview ended with this: “if we open our heart a bit, we could make a lot of difference in the world”. Priceless.

Sytlali Govea Hernández is an impressive young lady. I salute her, thank her parents and her teachers, and am extremely honored and proud to present her to you.

Let’s help her, and my other Youngsters of the Month be leaders. They will encourage Leadership and Volunteerism among their peers, for the benefit of our whole Fine City.

Thank you!