Parents’ Work Pays Off: 5 Kids Go to College

When Elaine Gonzales wrestled with the toughest decision of her life--whether to attend Harvard or Stanford in the fall--her parents could offer only encouragement. Neither of them went to college.

But Elaine didn’t have to look very far for good advice. When she heads for Stanford in September on a combination of academic scholarship, student loans and work-study to coverthe annual expenses of $26,800, she will be the fourth of five Gonzales children to do so. The fifth, Steven, just completed his third year at UC Berkeley.

Elaine, 18, graduated from San Fernando High School on Wednesday as the salutatorian of her class, with a nearly perfect grade point average.

She chose Stanford over Harvard, not to keep the family tradition intact, but because she felt the support system for Latinos was stronger there.

Like her brothers and sisters, Elaine believes that her parents’ own hard work and unwavering involvement in her education was the secret to her good grades and acceptance to top colleges.

“It was always study first,” Elaine said. “We were raised to believe education was worth it. I saw my father working hard and coming home tired and dirty. I knew he wanted something better for us.”

It was a powerful message, and Elaine’s parents, Gilbert and Lupe Gonzales, a trash collector and a teachers’ aide, made sure that all of their children heard it every day. At the Gonzales household, nothing came before homework, not even chores. One daughter, Stephanie Jara, 28, now an engineer for Hewlett Packard in Cupertino, had a weekend job at McDonald’s during high school. She also wanted to work after school so she would have extra spending money, but her parents would not allow it.

The Gonzaleses got to know their children’s teachers, helped with homework, kept track of grades and encouraged their children to ask questions.

The oldest of the five children, Arleen Gonzales, 32, now a teacher at San Fernando Middle School, was the first in an extended family of more than 77 cousins to go to college.

Lupe Gonzales said that Arleen was the pioneer, tracking into new territory and exposing the rest of the family to the possibilities that existed for all of them. “She went and the rest followed,” Lupe Gonzales said.

Gilbert Gonzales, 59, who has worked as a trash collector for the city of Los Angeles for 33 years, said he has always had just one goal in mind: to be a successful father.

Gonzales grew up in Lincoln Heights and started working when he was 8 years old, helping his father make utensils for the military in a sheet-metal shop. When he graduated from high school he was the only one of seven children to do so.

Lupe Gonzales, 55, was also one of seven children. She works as a teachers’ aide at Montague Elementary School in Pacoima. Her parents immigrated to the San Fernando Valley from Mexico in the early 1920s.

Starting at a young age, Lupe Gonzales helped her family pick grapes and walnuts, but, like her husband, she managed to stay in high school and was one of three siblings to finish.

Lupe and Gilbert Gonzales’ pride hangs on the wall in the entrance to their modest house in San Fernando, with dozens of achievement plaques and awards, etched with their children’s names.

When asked to reveal their formula for success, their answer is always the same: Encouragement, involvement and good teachers make the difference between an average student and an exceptional one.

To prove their point, they tell the story of their nephew, Ryan Ruiz, who came to live with the family five years ago after his mother died. When he arrived, he described himself as an average student, with average grades.

Ryan graduated from Sylmar High School on Tuesday as the valedictorian of his class and plans to attend Notre Dame University in the fall.

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