UpWords: Oscar Gonzalez

At a Middle School assembly this week, Oscar Gonzalez, director of equity and inclusivity, shared highlights of his life story as part of the UpWords assembly series. His presentation focused on our Guiding Principles, Pursue Excellence and Cultivate Compassion.
At a Middle School assembly this week, Oscar Gonzalez, director of equity and inclusivity, shared highlights of his life story as part of the UpWords assembly series. His presentation focused on our Guiding Principles, Pursue Excellence and Cultivate Compassion.

Oscar's story started after his parents, both Mexican citizens, met and married in Denver and started a family. His father, a tradesman with a sixth-grade education, and his mother, a homemaker, were dedicated to providing better opportunities for their family in spite of experiencing discrimination and hardships, both social and financial. Through it all, Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez consistently taught their children that education was their "way out" and way up in life. In third grade, Oscar remembers helping his parents study for the citizenship test and proudly talks about how they became naturalized citizens in 1995. He calls his childhood "ordinary" and describes being involved in sports, how he loved learning and how his teachers encouraged him to do his best. Looking back, he also reflects that the expectations in public school were relatively low.

All that changed in eighth grade when he was recruited for enrollment at Kent Denver. With the help of adults at his DPS middle school, Oscar applied for admission and financial aid, earning a full scholarship. At Kent, he found the academic program both rigorous and invigorating. He was challenged to study harder and think deeper. He was also confronted, for the first time, with people who were different from him. "At my old school, everyone looked like me and everyone's family was like mine," he shares. Kent introduced him into an environment where he was the minority. Back at home, kids in the neighborhood isolated him, saying he was "too good" for them now that he attended private school. Oscar felt he didn't belong in either setting.

"I felt very alone," he shares. "I coped by laying low and trying not to draw attention to myself. Kids at school sometimes made me feel like I didn't belong there and I thought about leaving Kent but I knew I was getting a great education and I needed to persevere." 

Instead of quitting, Oscar got involved with a program called Breakthrough Kent Denver where he mentored students from DPS schools. He also attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) and dedicated himself to the basketball team and to making friends. These efforts provided a needed confidence boost and considerably improved his last years of high school. 

When it was time to apply for colleges, Oscar set his sights on Northwestern University. He again was admitted on a full scholarship and four years later became the first person in his family to graduate from college. At the graduation ceremony, 17 members of the Gonzalez clan came to honor and celebrate this achievement, which inspired younger siblings and cousins to also pursue a higher education. 

Oscar's passion was to work in the field of diversity, inclusion and educational equity. "The people who believed in me changed my life," he says. "I often thought about why I had these amazing opportunities that my childhood friends didn't. They were just as deserving and just as qualified. I wanted to help others succeed and to share my story so they knew it was possible."

He went back to Breakthrough Kent Denver as program director and also is a co-chair of SDLC where he inspires youth to set their own goals and to advocate for inclusivity in our communities. Here at Graland, Oscar's role is to ensure a sense of belonging so that everyone can thrive and have the chance to succeed. He asked students, "What are you doing to help others feel like they belong here?" It's as simple as sitting with someone who might be lonely, smiling at others and including other students in your conversations, he said.

Remembering his own experiences in school, Oscar ended his UpWords presentation with some encouraging words to students: "We see you. You matter." 




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Graland Country Day School

Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.