Dr. 雷耶斯·高纳，艾德.D. ’18, 他在洛迪附近的果园里长大, picking cherries and other fruit alongside his parents who were emigrants from Mexico. 最近，Gauna赢得了他的荣誉 教育学博士学位 from 欧文康考迪亚大学 and now serves as a public school district superintendent near Stockton. His inspiring story has been featured on CBS 新闻 and many local news outlets.
“I feel that I have been blessed with divine intervention,Gauna说。. “The Lord is my Savior and my guiding light and has put people in my path who put their hand on my shoulder and said, “我看到了你可能看不到的潜力. 这是你要做的.’”
作为不会说英语的移民的儿子, Gauna often felt vulnerable at school and did his best to shrink back and stay out of trouble.
“The best way to defend yourself was to be quiet even when other people were wrong,他回忆道。. “我现在不是那样了，但我曾经是一个年轻、胆小、害羞的孩子. 后来我才意识到我有自己的声音.”
小学对他来说是孤独的, Gauna befriended a school custodian and found “common peace hanging out” with her, 他说. 在高中时, his social disconnectedness led him to graduate early “because I didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere.”
By that time he was working multiple jobs, including managing a local Burger King at age 16.
他上了一些大学课程，探索了一些职业, 但直到他找到了一份学校管理员的工作，一切才有了眉目, 就像他的老朋友.
“当我还是个看门人的时候, I remember visiting classrooms and I would pretend I was teaching,Gauna在2019年9月的一个专题节目中告诉CBS新闻.
The best way to defend yourself was to be quiet even when others were wrong. 后来我才意识到我有自己的声音.
While Gauna was serving as a campus safety monitor in north Stockton, the school principal noticed how well he interacted with people. 一天，校长约我一起吃午饭. He inquired about Gauna’s ambitions and strongly encouraged him to become a teacher. A week later, Gauna began taking classes to earn his teaching credential. 很快, he was teaching bilingual elementary school classes and found that most of his students were first-generation immigrants like he was.
“父母 kept pulling their students out to translate for them,” he remembers. “我说，‘我想教这些家长说英语.’”
Dr. 雷耶斯Gauna
通过斯托克顿的一个地区成人教育项目, he created evening classes for parents whose first languages included Vietnamese, 意大利语和西班牙语. 通过口口相传，班级从15个家长增加到60个家长. Gauna taught them conversational English using real-world scenarios.
“父母 began telling me they went to the pharmacist and their daughter didn’t have to help them,他自豪地说。.
但教书并不是他唯一的使命.
“我想让全校的人都知道,他说, so he earned a master’s degree in counseling and became a K-12 counselor for several years. 耶和华的手又引导他.
“My superintendent put me into an aspiring administrators program, 我爱上了管理,Gauna说。.
他成了一所高中的副校长, 然后是K-8本金, 然后是高中校长. One day, a colleague asked him, “Is it your goal to be a superintendent?”
“听起来很好听，”高娜回答. “你考虑过攻读博士学位吗??朋友问.
“I put together a committee of people and asked if anyone was into it with me,Gauna说。 now. 有15个人说是的. We interviewed every university possible to see what would be the best fit for our team. 有人说, ‘There’s a wonderful university that’s faith-based that you should consider: 欧文康考迪亚大学.’”
Within a short time, a team from CUI flew into Stockton to meet with the group of potential students.
“我们一起吃了午饭，我喜欢康考迪亚欧文分校的原因是 精神方面, 他们飞过来见我们, and that they had a wholehearted investment in the programs and in the students,Gauna说。. “这是对的人在对的时间. 我只是觉得那是真的.”
Going through Concordia's program was one of the most amazing things that's ever happened to me. 这不是一个让你进去就出来的项目. 这是一个持续的支持系统.
He led his informal cohort of 16 through what he calls “a true success story.“博士项目 华盛顿特区.C.,旅行 (which Gauna later taught for Concordia) was a high point, as was the program’s 中国之行 which “transformed the way my colleagues saw education,他说.
“The courses I did through Concordia helped me look at education through a different lens,Gauna说。.
He graduated in 2018, as did most of the other 16 people in the group.
“Going through Concordia’s program was one of the most amazing things that’s ever happened to me,Gauna说。. “毕业典礼是如此难忘和特别. Concordia also helped me develop friendships where we’re helping each other. 这不是一个让你进去就出来的项目. 这是一个持续的支持系统.”
After serving as assistant superintendent in a school district with 40,000名学生, Gauna now leads Byron Union School District outside Stockton with three schools and one charter school. He mentors and encourages people just as he was encouraged to dream bigger.
“People sat me down to say what they saw in me that I didn’t see in myself,他说. “我一直都这么做. I pull someone aside and say, ‘What are you going to do with your life?’ I pose the question that was posed to me and guide them in that direction. 这就是我传递爱的方式. Every day I look for people who need someone to put a hand on their shoulder and say, “你考虑过这个问题吗?’ I really feel the Lord puts people in my path that he wants me to talk to. I find myself praying, ‘God, help this person to leave my office with the same thing I did. 给我你的话语.’”
Gauna是一个每天都很投入的管理者.
“I believe a true educator lives in the kids’ environment,他说. “我的首要任务是和我的员工一起去学校. 星期五我去听我的学生演奏爵士乐. 昨晚我是一个才艺表演的意外评委. 今晚我要对我们的员工讲话. 我试着去教室. 我给学生讲我的人生故事. 我在校园里散步，和人们交谈. 我的口号是“美丽的人”.“他们都听到我说，‘早上好，美丽的人们.他们会想，‘有人觉得我很漂亮.’”
除了领导民主党.C. 学习之旅 CUI博士项目Gauna最近在该项目中教了一门课. 他和他的妻子有三个孩子，都是运动员.
他说:“如果我的经历能给你带来启发，我会和大家分享。. “Today’s youth think that barriers are designed to shut them down, but they’re designed to see how resilient you are and for you to move forward and use those barriers to catapult you in your mission in life.”