A Legacy of Inspiration

Marisela Guillen knows she probably would not be starting college this fall if not for Ray Sepulveda, who ran Santa Paula High School’s Agriculture Academy and relentlessly drove her to achieve.

But as she prepares to leave this week for UC Santa Barbara, saying goodbye to those who helped her get there, he is the one person she is unable to thank.

Sepulveda, the popular teacher who badgered his students to fill out college applications, reminded them of financial aid deadlines, even counseled their parents about the benefits of a college education, died of a heart attack last month while on a fishing trip in Alaska. He was 55.

“He was always there for me, and if I ever needed him, all I had to do was just call,” said Guillen, 18, whose parents emigrated from Mexico when she was 5. “It hurts so much that he’s not going to be there anymore, that he won’t get to see the goals I accomplish.”

Guillen is among the first crop of graduates of Santa Paula High’s agriculture-science academy, a program that began as a lofty experiment four years ago and became one of this small farm town’s greatest educational success stories. All 22 graduates are entering four-year universities this fall--16 of them the first in their families to do so--on scholarships totaling more than $500,000.

Sepulveda was the heart of the program, students and teachers said. His death, however, will not mean its demise. Participants promise that the academy he loved will not only survive, but excel in his memory.

“Ray’s death was untimely, but the dream doesn’t have to stop,” said Catherine Sepulveda, his widow. “I’m going to do everything I can to see it continue.”

School administrators have not announced a replacement for Sepulveda, who this year would have overseen both the agriculture-science academy and a new human services academy, which will include a curriculum focusing on health care and social services.

Santa Paula Union High School District Supt. William Brand said the team of instructors in the program will keep it running until a lead teacher is hired. Catherine Sepulveda, who worked with her husband as the program’s liaison with the local agriculture community, will continue to help oversee it.

“It’s really turning out to be an energizing of the staff in memory of Sepulveda,” Brand said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s have a great year, and let’s not let Ray down.’ ”

The agriculture academy, described as “a school within a school,” works off of a model developed by the state and used at many high schools throughout California.

At Santa Paula High, a maximum of 30 students per class are enrolled in the academy annually. Each takes an introductory course in agriculture-science as a freshman, then sticks with the same group of students and teachers in core classes such as English and math throughout high school.

The resulting closeness creates a family-like feel and a constant support network, school officials said. Academy students have immediate access to tutors, career counselors and mentors in the community.

“It’s like a parent’s dream,” Brand said. “We’re taking care of the students through all of high school.”

He said agriculture was chosen as the first theme simply because of the wealth of resources surrounding the town. Academies elsewhere have focused on business, education and engineering.

But the larger goal was always ensuring every student performed at a level that would get them into a four-year university, Principal Tony Gaitan said. As such, any student could join the program, regardless of whether he or she planned to study agriculture in college.

Those who participate are guaranteed preferential admission to a handful of public universities that are partners in the program, including Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

Five years ago, Santa Paula High’s college entrance rate was “dismal,” with only a handful choosing higher education, Brand said. Officials launched a number of initiatives--including banning remedial courses and creating the academy. This fall, 44 students are attending four-year schools, up from 18 last fall.

The effort has garnered local and national recognition. Last year, Santa Paula’s academy won the American School Board Journal’s Magna Award and the California Golden Bell Award.

“Ray always believed . . . if you had a good program, kids would succeed,” Catherine Sepulveda said. “All he had to do was show them a way.”

It worked for 18-year-old Consuelo Mejia, who always wanted to go to college. She said she would not have made it without the academy.

“Mr. Sepulveda was the one who always pushed us,” she said.

UC Santa Barbara, where Mejia is enrolled, mostly on scholarships and grants, was one of five universities that accepted her. In total, the 22 academy graduates won spots at 66 schools across the state and nation.

Cassie Dilbeck, 18, another academy graduate, said her classmates were a diverse group--some needed a lot of help, others were self-motivated. Though her plans for college began at an early age, Dilbeck said for many others, the program showed them the opportunity was available.

“In a small town like Santa Paula, it can be hard to see that without a little help,” she said.

Sepulveda did that for the academy’s students by teaching them to think bigger, she added.

“He was so proud of it, he was busting at the seams all the time,” said Dilbeck, who is heading to UC San Diego this week. “He lived and breathed the academy.”

When he died, Sepulveda was on a salmon fishing trip in Alaska with best friend Rodney Fernandez, his wife said. Sepulveda had returned to the lodge after watching a sunset when he collapsed. Catherine Sepulveda said he had just received a physical and appeared to be in perfect health.

Her husband would have loved to follow this first class of graduates through college and watch as some returned to Santa Paula High to teach in the program, she said. He planned to retire in five years, the same year the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, Rena, will graduate from high school.

“It doesn’t make sense to me--it seems like he should be here,” Catherine Sepulveda said. “But when a person like Ray dies, their memory becomes an example for everyone. In death it hits you how much that person really meant.”

Academy teacher Edward Arguelles said he started class last week by writing three words on the board: Intelligent, focused, driven.

Sepulveda had all three, he said, and that is what the program is all about.

“His loss is irreplaceable,” Arguelles said, “but these three things live on with us.”