By Allison L. Andersen, Content Designer
The Growing With Elevo series features mission-driven people from across our organization sharing their stories and growth experiences as they strive to make a positive impact for the students we serve every day. This month, we sat down with Jessy Orozco and learned why she swapped a career in hospitality for a career working with students.
It’s 2020, there is a pandemic, life is uncertain for everyone. For Jessy, it’s about to take a turn she never expected. Her decade-long career as a Sales Manager for a large hotel chain has come to an end, and she is suddenly a stay-at-home mom of two young children. But, she discovers there’s a gift in all of this.
“When COVID happened, I had to re-evaluate my entire career. The job I had for 10 years was not flexible enough with young children, and due to the pandemic, eventually became obsolete. Most travel had come to a complete halt. I had to make the decision to leave.”
Time at home with her daughters helped solidify her priorities. While her kids always came first, her previous job made it difficult for her to be with them as much as she would have liked. “While I was a stay-at-home mom for 6 months, I became curious about working within the school system when I saw schools were opening back up. Then I found Sports for Learning (now Elevo). I started as a Coach, then soon after moved up to Site Lead, then Regional Program Manager, and now Site Success Manager. I love what I do because this company does make a difference. It shows how important it is to make sure schools aren’t just filled with academics and teachers, that schools also need the support of young coaches that can make it fun for students to practice Social Emotional Learning skills that they will carry throughout their lives.”
The shift from sales to students was an easy one for her and came with benefits she wasn’t expecting. “To be honest, I really didn’t learn too much about parenting in a healthy manner growing up. I’ve always been very curious about mental health in kids especially when I started having my own kids.” She goes on to explain that she was continuing to heal from childhood trauma and recognized that so many children are going through situations where they need support and someone they can relate to. These support systems were not available to her when she was young. “Everyone was so blind to it when I was growing up. Now, it’s good to have that extra set of eyes and extra heart out there.”
Compassion, connection, and communication lead Jessy in nearly every way. As the Sight Success Manager her responsibilities are as a liaison between the students and the school administrators, usually the principal. Our first meeting was abruptly cancelled when she was called into an emergency meeting with the principal at one of her school sites. “We’ve been dealing with a student that has a hard home life. It makes her act out and she has a lot of behavioral issues, so the principal and I were talking about her IEP meeting, the results of it, and our next steps. There have been some really bad incidents with this student. Both Elevo and the school are working together to try to help this student be more successful, not just in the school day, but also the after-school program. We’re trying to figure out how to help keep her in the program and keep everyone in the program safe.”
Jessy loves that the principals call her whenever they need anything. But, this was not always Jessy’s relationship with the principals of her schools growing up.
“When I started as a Coach, it was at my daughter’s school. It was also the school I grew up in. I was a bad student, always getting into trouble. Working in the district where I went to school, some of the teachers recognized me, and I’d hear, ‘Oh, how the tables have turned.’” Instead of sitting in the principal’s office awaiting punishment, she now waits to problem-solve with the principal to help students like her.
Working with children comes naturally to Jessy. She began working in the youth ministry of her church in high school. “I still work in ministry. I volunteer with kids from TK-5th grade. I feel like kids need a healthy and spiritual bond with someone outside of their homelife. I feel like the type of energy I can bring to the students, because of having so much faith, allows me to maintain my peace in the midst of chaos. Kids read that type of energy. And they gravitate toward it and they may open up a little more comfortably.”
She credits both her faith and the strong bonds she has with her team for the balance in her life and her success as a Site Success Manager. “I feel like being able to communicate with my team and everyone I work with and having a heart toward them makes it easy for me to really open up to the people I work with. We’re working hand-in-hand to be successful in these programs. Not only do we work together as a team, I also have support.”
Jessy is truly that extra set of eyes and extra heart out there looking out for everyone.
