November 10, 2023 • 36 mins
Imagine the challenge of transferring to a new school district for high school, constantly trying and struggling to fit in. Now, imagine transforming that mindset, rising above adversity, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth. This is the story of our guest, Eric Salcedo, a proud alumnus of Santa Ana Unified School District. Eric's tale is a testament to resilience and determination, shaped by the indelible influence of his custodian father, his struggles in school, and the profound impact of a young substitute teacher's message that forever altered his attitude towards education.
Eric's journey has been anything but conventional. From working in a heart catheter factory and a solar panel factory to becoming a quality control inspector at an aerospace company, he's done it all. However, the compass of his life always pointed towards his roots at SAUSD. Listen as he recounts his career pathway, reflecting on the importance of security, opportunity, and the courage to step outside one's comfort zone. Eric's experiences offer invaluable lessons, highlighting the significance of embracing challenges and seizing every opportunity.
Wrapping up our conversation, Eric opens up about the people who have significantly shaped his journey. His wife, an unwavering pillar of support, and a former supervisor, who saw potential in him when others did not. Eric holds the belief that every individual operates on their unique timeline, shaped by their unique experiences. His story of resilience, determination, and perseverance is a beacon of hope for many. So, join us on this extraordinary journey of Eric Salcedo and get inspired to step outside your comfort zone.
Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bianca Barquin (00:07):
Welcome back to another episode of SAUSD's
Amplifying Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin.
Today, we have a truly specialguest, a man whose story
embodies resilience,determination and the power of
taking chances.
He's a proud alumnus of SantaAna Unified School District and
(00:27):
a beacon of hope for manystudents who have faced similar
struggles.
Let's dive into the inspiringjourney of Eric Salcedo.
Eric, I am so excited to haveyou on our podcast today, and I
would love to dive right intoquestions.
So can you describe what it waslike growing up in SAUSD and
(00:50):
how did this environment shapeyou?
Eric Salcedo (00:53):
Hi Bianca, thank you very much for having me.
Well, I started very earlyactually, when I came to SAUSD.
My dad is a custodian here andhe still is a custodian for over
20 years.
When I was, I want to say, 11years old, I would come home
from school, from elementaryschool, and I would tell my mom
(01:14):
hey, mom, can I go with my dad?
Because he works two jobs untilthis day.
He worked two jobs then and heworks two jobs to this day and I
would go and ask my mom, if Ican, can I go with my dad, go
work with my dad?
Actually, yeah, you know, yougot to finish your homework, do
your work and then I can go dropyou off.
And we lived right across thestreet from the Santa Ana Zoo.
It was somewhat of a drive, butnot too far.
(01:36):
So every chance that I could, Iwould go and work with my dad.
He'd have me do the small stuff, take out the trash from the
classrooms and make sure thedoors were locked and stuff.
But of course he would go backand check them himself, because
an 11- year old, you checkingdoors and stuff.
But yeah, I did that just tospend time with my dad, but I
(01:59):
was going to Tustin schools andcame here when I was in eighth
grade and it was different.
It was different, that's forsure.
Even I want to say oh, I thinktwo weeks ago I ended up going
back to my old middle schoolthat I went to because they have
this event called Tustin TillerDays and it's a fair that they
have on their grounds, and beingthere brought back some
(02:19):
memories.
The school still looks the sameand whatnot, but the nostalgia
came back.
But to be honest, I love SantaAna Unified School District.
As soon as I came it wasdifferent.
One of my first experiencesthat I had was I came here for
summer school and then I wentinto eighth grade.
But one of the firstexperiences I had was trying to
meet friends, which was reallyhard to do.
(02:41):
You know, I was the kid thatcame from a different district
and as the years went by inschools and stuff, I would see
those kinds of kids come over aswell.
They all.
.
.
a different state or a differentcounty.
I forgot this one kid's name.
He came from Chicago, butimmediately I tried to be his
friend because I know exactlyhow he felt.
(03:02):
You feel like an outsider, youreally do.
You have these friends thatyou've had since elementary
school here and I didn't havethat here.
I had that back in Tustin.
So that experience was prettyhard on a kid and the reason why
I had to move is because we gotkicked out of our apartments.
I want to say it was my fault,but we would mess around with
(03:25):
the security guard and stufflike that, not like being mean
to him or anything like that.
We were just like tease him,like hey, because there was
curfew and we would gather abunch of kids and stuff like hey
, let's play hide from thesecurity guard, and I guess we
were the ones that he recognizedall the time.
So, yeah, we got evicted.
My brother and I got evicted.
(03:46):
I got us evicted but, like Isaid before during the
conversation earlier, we hadeverything happens for a reason
and I don't think that I wouldbe in the position that I am
today if stuff like that didn'thappen to me in the past.
Bianca Barquin (04:04):
So I know, Eric, that you transitioned to SAUSD
when you were in eighth grade.
That is a tough time to moveand I know you focused a lot on
making friends.
I've heard you tell me before,when we've talked, that you
weren't exactly the student wholoved to sit in the front of the
class and was really focused oninstruction and paying
(04:26):
attention to the teacher.
So what emotions were youwrestling with during those
times and where did you findyourself sitting in a classroom
and why?
Eric Salcedo (04:38):
Well, at the very beginning, the easiest friends
for me to make were, of course,the bad ones, and what I mean by
that is they were more ofaccepting and told hey.
.
.
just come over here and stuff.
But one person that I doremember, that was my friend
from the very beginning.
His name was Christian Medrano.
(04:59):
That was his name and heimmediately was like hey, come
over here, come hang out with meand stuff like that.
And of course, like I said,they were kind of the bad
friends, but we were gettinginto some stuff.
But as a kid sitting in theback and whatnot, just like any
other kid, now we feel like weknow it all, we feel like we are
invincible.
(05:20):
Then we're not.
To be honest, we really aren't.
We feel like anything thatanybody tells us that's not
going to happen.
We brush that off very, veryeasily because we have too much
going on.
There's too much going on withschools, with our friends.
Oh, hey, we're going to go dothis, we're going to do that.
That's more important, that wasmore important.
Bianca Barquin (05:40):
So you were considered, well.
.
.
one, you were hanging aroundfolks you said that possibly you
shouldn't have been hangingaround with, or you know, making
friends and just trying tosocially connect with people,
especially transitioning ineighth grade.
But I hear that you were one ofthe cool kids in school.
Were you?
Eric Salcedo (06:01):
Cool, tried to be, right?
And that's the thing, try to becool.
So, you know, I wanted to showeveryone I fit in.
You know, make a name formyself.
So I began to, you know, actout.
You know, interrupt class, bethe class clown.
And I guess it was theattention that I was getting
(06:22):
from everybody.
It's like, oh, you know, Eric,he's so funny and what that was
was what drove me and that's whyI would, you know, decide not
to pay attention, even thoughyou know, my parents taught me
right.
And you know, every single timemy parents dropped me off from
school, they're like hey, youknow, you know, échale ganas.
You know, give it your all andlearn.
(06:43):
But that was that wascompletely different as soon as
I walked through that, thosegates of school.
Bianca Barquin (06:50):
So, and that, and that's what I mean.
At the time, you thought youwere being cool because you were
really trying to socialize andwe understand.
There was an instance thatyou've talked to me about before
and I want you to be able toshare it with our listeners that
was a changing point in youreducational career, right?
So there was a point where,where things went in a
(07:12):
completely different directionand, honestly, it was related to
a substitute teacher that youhad at one particular point in
time, and you tell us that storyand what was it that the
substitute did or said that madeyou think about the world
differently?
Eric Salcedo (07:29):
So I honestly wish I could remember his name.
But, just like every otherteacher that we had, every
teacher cared right.
They showed, they cared.
They were always on you, theywere always on me and then they
were always like hey, come on,Eric, let's come on, do your
work, do your work, do your work, do your work.
Nobody's going to do this onceyou're out of school.
Nobody's going to do this,nobody's going to be behind you.
If you go to college and noone's going to be behind you to
(07:51):
do your work, it's all on you,it's all based on you.
But the thing about thissubstitute teacher was he was
young.
I want to say he was very young.
I want to say maybe he was in,he was 20.
.
.
27, I would say at the time.
And we would, we would messaround in that class and just
(08:12):
because he was a substitute, wewould mess around and it was us
in the back, not caring andwhatnot and throwing papers and
not paying attention.
And he would always tell us toquiet down and tell us hey be
quiet, please.
Those that want to learn, letthem learn.
Then one day he came in and hesaid we're going to do things
(08:35):
differently today, it waseverybody that wants to learn,
please sit in the front, andeverybody that doesn't, please
sit in the back.
So you know, hey, they gave usthe freedom to do so.
So we decided to sit in theback and have a grand old time.
We started making noise and westarted being disruptive and he
said hey, you know, can you guysplease quiet down?
(08:56):
I had a friend then that youknow responded in a very
disrespectful manner that Ican't say on here.
But after that he told us hegoes hey, if you guys don't want
to learn, that's fine with me,that's on you.
I'm here to do a job.
If you're going to stop me fromdoing that job, you know, by
all means, but don't interruptthese students that actually
(09:18):
want to learn and want toprogress.
You know, if you don't want tolearn, that's between you and
your parents.
So that's something that youhave to later on in life deal
with.
Right now you don't care.
And that stuck with me tillthis day, and what I feel he was
really trying to say is I don'thave time for you.
(09:38):
That's pretty much what he wastrying to say.
He gave off this energy.
Like you know, that's yourproblem, not mine.
He wasn't going to let usaffect him emotionally,
physically, if any.
But yeah, that still sticks meto this day because the energy
that he was giving off wassomething that I've never seen
(09:59):
in somebody.
Every other substitute wouldreact the way we wanted them to
react, right?
They got.
.
.
angry.
Oh you guys, blah, blah, blah,blah.
Ha ha ha, we got you.
We got you to that point.
We broke you.
But not this guy.
He didn't break.
He was more on the offensive,more than the defensive, and to
(10:20):
this day, I'm actually just theway he is.
If you don't have good energytowards me, I don't want you
around me.
If you bring no value to me,then why would I have you with
me?
And yeah, I don't give anybodythe time of day, and neither did
he.
Bianca Barquin (10:38):
Thank you for sharing that.
I really appreciated it andit's good to hear that somebody
not reacting emotionally to whatyou were doing as students at
the time and reacting in adifferent way which is something
that we as educators have tothink about all the time really
changed it for you and changedyour mindset and how you were
(11:02):
thinking about your schooling.
I do know that it got to apoint where you realized that
you were not going to be able tograduate on time as you
progressed, right, being a fewcredits shy of graduation.
How difficult was that for you,because I know how close you
are to your parents and I meanyou talked about your dad and
(11:25):
being with him when you had tolet them know that you weren't
going to graduate, when theythought that you were going to
graduate.
Eric Salcedo (11:31):
That day was pretty rough, the day I had to
tell them and just like anyother parent that's came to this
country to give their kids abetter lifestyle and their
family a better lifestyle, ithurt and I'll always remember
the look on my parents' face.
Throughout the years, they toldme you need to get it together,
(11:52):
you need to get it together,you need to think about your
future and whatnot.
And, like I said before, weknew it all, right?
I knew it all.
There was nothing that couldstop me.
There was nothing that couldaffect me in this way.
But what really affected me wasthe look on my parents' face
that I will never forget.
It was like the last nail inthe coffin.
It was like they had thissadness in their eyes like I
(12:15):
just committed a crime and I'llbe put away forever and it's
like the look was like they'vegiven up on me and that hurt.
It really did.
It really did.
I have never felt sodisappointed in my life until
that day.
So, I decided to make a changein myself after that.
I started passing all myclasses.
(12:35):
The following year I think thiswas my junior year I started
doing all my classes and I didend up going to some of
Centennial classes to finish.
I did try to do some afterschool programs and whatnot to
finish, and then throughout mysenior year, when I finished I
was still five credits short andit hurt because I did put all
(12:57):
this work in and I still didn'treach the goal that I wanted to.
But in the end I knew it was myfault because in the earlier
years I was a completelydifferent person and I feel like
throughout the years of gettingolder, through high school and
(13:20):
even till now, we gain moreknowledge and experience every
year, and every year we'rebetter.
Every year we're better.
We're all here first time.
Everyone's here for the firsttime.
My parents are here for thefirst time.
We only get one shot at thisand they're just trying to help
and show me with what they know.
But another thing about thatwhat really changed me was I
(13:44):
actually went to the graduationof my year and I saw the parents
.
I saw the look in their eyes,the joy that they had in their
eyes.
That should have been me, thatshould have been my parents, and
I feel like I stole that fromthem because I was careless.
I went to a graduation partyand the same thing I saw the
(14:06):
parents there, you know, happyas can be, and my parents are at
home, you know?
I should be at home.
Why am I at a party, agraduation party?
It was for my friend, but Ishould have been having my own
party, and that's what reallyhit me too.
Bianca Barquin (14:23):
Thank you for sharing that, and what I really
appreciate, though, is thechange in mindset in your
resiliency, right?
For you to work so hard toovercome, because it's a lot of
work to do that, and to be onlyfive credits shy shows that you
were on the right path.
Yes, you didn't get those fivecredits down in time for
(14:46):
graduation, but you were on theroad back right?
You were back on track.
So, from there you went toChavez High School, right?
Eric Salcedo (14:56):
No, I went to summer school for Valley.
Bianca Barquin (15:01):
So tell me more about how you made up those five
credits and what happened.
Eric Salcedo (15:06):
So it was actually kind of embarrassing, because
here I am, I'm supposed to be agraduated senior, but I'm not,
because I'm missing five credits.
I was a super senior in afreshman class, a freshman, yeah
, a freshman class trying tomake up five credits World
history it was, I remember.
A nd it was, it wasdisappointing and this is when I
(15:31):
realized, like, what am I doingwith myself?
What am I doing?
I need to be different, becauseI finished the work way before
everybody did, and what I meanby that is I knew the answers.
I knew the answers to thisstuff.
It's just my actions then and mycarelessness then didn't allow
(15:53):
me to do that.
So I actually finished summerschool.
It was two or three weeksearlier because my teacher would
come up to me and he's like,hey, I know you finished your
work and we still have half theday to go.
Do you want tomorrow's work?
And I said, if I can have it,yes, I will, I'll do that,
because I can't let you leave.
So I finished three weeks earlyand they actually let me leave,
(16:17):
and a few weeks later Ireceived my diploma.
So that was interesting and,like I said, it was very
disappointing that I knew thisstuff, but just the fact that I
wanted to show off and be cooland whatnot put me in that
position.
Bianca Barquin (16:36):
So we have just had our first summer graduation,
right, our first summergraduation in a long time.
We had had them before, buthadn't had them for a while and
we asked you to be able to speakand give a speech and tell your
story.
How did it feel to talk infront of all of those students
(17:00):
and to have the ability toinspire them with your story,
knowing that they were insimilar situations?
Eric Salcedo (17:08):
Well, I never thought that I would be in front
of an auditorium full ofparents and students.
And when Celeste came up to meduring our walkthrough at Top
100, at Guarantee Chevrolet, shesaid hey, I'm thinking about
doing a summer school graduationceremony.
What do you think?
(17:29):
I looked at her and I saidabsolutely, let's do it.
She goes oh, that was very fast.
Like why did you say yes?
I said because I'm a summerschool graduate and I don't know
why,but when I graduated, they had a
ceremony for us and I'mwondering why, since I started
(17:50):
working here, I've beenwondering why we don't have
those anymore.
She goes well, this will be thefirst one.
I'm like, well, I don't thinkso, because I had a ceremony
myself with every school andsome of my friends that were
summer graduates as well, and Ihave some friends that did
graduate that year andthroughout the summer that have
(18:12):
gone and are doing great thingswith their life now, and my
message I wanted to get acrosswas just because you hit a small
bump on the road, one of many,it's not something you can't
overcome.
You can do whatever you inspireyourself to be.
You can go out and do the exactsame thing those that graduated
during the regular graduationceremony.
(18:34):
You could still do it.
Bianca Barquin (18:36):
Thank you.
Now tell me what happened aftergraduation and how you ended up
working for SAUSD in theposition you're in now.
I want you to tell us the storyof what happened right after
graduation, where did you work,and tell us your experiences and
what led you to come back home.
Eric Salcedo (18:58):
So I first started working at Burlington Coat
Factory and I started there asan.
.
.
in shoes.
They had this issue with theshoes of.
.
.
It was just so unorganized and Iguess it was my OCD, my little
OCD that I had that I was like,no, I do not like this, I need
(19:19):
to do something about it.
And I just started adjustingand creating and making it mine,
in other words.
So I know exactly where to go,if somebody asked me a question,
I know exactly where to takethem, what I want and what not.
So I think that's where Istarted my, I guess, skills I
would say skills in life becauseat one point at Burlington we
(19:43):
had four people out on fourdifferent departments and I was
the only one, I guess, that camein.
So I had to run around andactually help everything and in
a way I kind of liked the chaos.
I really did because it kept mebusy and I don't know what it
is about chaos, but somethingabout chaos that you just want
to control it and make sure thateverything's gonna come out
(20:04):
well.
My manager was actually veryimpressed because I was helping
out this customer while I wasgoing out to do this customer
and then with this customer overhere.
But that was a short two years.
After that I went into an agencyand I started working at a
place called St.
Jude Medical.
It was a heart cathetermanufacturing factory and I
(20:27):
started off there in theshipping department sanitizing
the plastics that the heartcatheters go in and even the
heart catheters themselves.
We would have to completelygown down.
No hairs, no, nothing.
All skin was covered.
So I think I want to say, maybea few weeks into that my
(20:47):
supervisor came up to me and hegoes hey, would you be
interested in doing a qualitycontrol inspection?
And I'm like I have no ideawhat that is.
And he goes well, you just testthe catheters and make sure
that they're working.
I said, um, yeah, sure, I'llgive it a shot.
He goes it's good for yourresume and it's more money.
I'm like well, I'm up for moremoney, I told him, you know I
(21:09):
was, I wasn't liking the pay Iwas getting then, but it was
more than what I was making atBurlington and it was way more
than doing the quality controlinspection.
So I started off with agentleman there, his name was
Harold, Howard, sorry, notHarold, Howard.
Howard immediately took meunder his wing and he helped me
out throughout the entireprocess.
(21:31):
He showed me how to do whatthis machine does, what that
machine does.
Hey, while you're doing this,you know you can connect these
two, it's.
.
.
you know.
And then I actually got reallygood at it.
I got really good at it.
I was I was testing a wholetray, what I mean by tray is I
think they would have about 10catheters per tray and the goal
was, you know, you got to do atleast like 30 to have the quota,
(21:53):
to meet the quota for the day,and I was actually doing 40.
I actually got really good atthe chaos of connecting this one
to that one and then go runaround this one and do that one
and this, I make sure, write itdown and and whatnot.
So I got, I got really good atthat.
And then after that I went intoan electric company called
(22:13):
Schneider Electric and I guess Iwas making the main power
boards from the solar panels.
They go into that and they get,I guess, I guess it gets
converted, but there was a quotaon that that I had to do as
well, and I was actuallyoutpacing the person behind me
and I don't think she liked that, because I think I got fired
for that.
I think I was doing too good ofa job because nobody else was
(22:34):
putting out those numbers.
So you know, more complaintscame, I guess, of me, and I was,
I was let go.
My last job was for a aerospacecompany.
I was a quality controlinspector there for the, the
bolts and screws of the planesand I did that for, I want to
say, maybe about three years.
And that one was interestingtoo.
(22:57):
That was from three in theafternoon to one thirty morning,
with overtime of course.
Bianca Barquin (23:02):
So how did all of those experiences lead you
back to SA USD?
And clearly I mean you're ableto talk about how you quickly
picked up, in every positionthat you were in, the skills,
the knowledge, the dispositionnecessary to be successful and
to actually get the work done.
So when did you come back to SAUSD and what did you learn in
(23:27):
those previous positions thathelped you get to where you are
today?
Eric Salcedo (23:35):
I came back to SAUSD in 2016 as a substitute
custodian.
It was the last job that I hadthat made me realize what I was
doing, because, you know, I hadpreviously bounced from this job
to this job, and now this job,and now I'm here.
I was having a conversationwith one of the workers there
that I've he's pretty much beenthere his entire life, making
whatever he was making, and Ithought to myself, well, is this
(23:57):
something that I'm going to bedoing for the rest of my life?
You know, it wasn't like a niceplace to be, because it was, it
was machinery everywhere.
You smelled it.
You smell the oil in the air,you see it on the ground, you
know, and it's a easy place toeither get sick or to slip and
fall.
And you know, there goes yourentire career, there goes, in
(24:17):
other words, your life, becausesome injuries, you know, keep
you from doing a lot of things.
But there was a guy there thatworked for that company for 55
years.
One week they announced that hewas going to retire.
The night before his retirementday, he was struck and killed
by a car.
So that made me realize like,hey, if I continue to do this,
(24:44):
if I continue doing these jobs,this is gonna be my life.
And the previous year s myfather would ask me like hey,
Eric, you know, come work forthe school district, come work
for me to substitute custodian.
Like, I don't think I want todo that.
You know, I found it kind ofembarrassing.
You know, I'm gonna be cleaningup toilets, I'm gonna be
cleaning up classrooms andwhatnot but they got to that
(25:09):
point of me witnessing that andseeing that, you know, the guy
was very loved by everybodythere that worked there and I
said you know what?
I think it's time for me to dosomething different, something
more secure, I would say.
And my dad was like, you know,you can do many things in the
district.
You know, you can start off asa custodian, you can go into
(25:29):
management, you can do a lot ofthings, and I didn't see that in
those other jobs.
I really didn't and I don'treally see opportunity because
the guys that I would talk tothey're like oh, I've been here
for 34 years doing the samething.
I'm like you never want to goto management?
So I came in 2016 as asubstitute custodian and, just
like at my previous jobs, I justwent crazy.
(25:52):
I started mapping out my route.
I started, you know, okay, whattime are these classrooms busy
with the Engage 360 program,what restrooms can I do, and so
forth.
So I got really good at it andI got to the point where my
dad's like, hey, you know, ifyou want to continue working,
you know, go to your manager andtell him hey, you know my name
is Eric and if you ever need me,this is my phone number.
(26:14):
You can please call me and I'llbe available for you.
And they took that veryseriously.
And I was getting called leftand right.
I had a custodian call mealmost every day and asked me if
I was working.
And if I was, he told me tocall the manager and tell him no
, come work over here with me, Ineed you, because he liked the
way I worked.
But over the years I did acquirea lot of skills and just also,
(26:37):
too, based off of what I saw.
So I started applying that here.
I started applying everythingthat the customer service that I
got from Burlington because Ihad to deal with a lot of
customers.
I had to learn how to talk tothem, how to learn how to talk
to very specific people andhigher ups that would come and
visit.
And then through St.
Jude Medical, I learned youknow, the responsibility of
(27:00):
having such a high position,because quality control
inspector was the highestposition that you could be there
and you know, just going fromliterally the shipping
department to there, there was alot of responsibility that I
had to take on.
And I started doing that and Istarted applying that here.
Bianca Barquin (27:16):
Amazing.
So tell me, Eric, what are youdoing now?
Eric Salcedo (27:21):
So right now I'm in the department of the SPART
team, and the SPART team wassomething that Mr.
Camberos, Gabriel Camberos, wasworking on for quite some time,
and I don't know how, but I gotpicked up by Mr.
Camberos.
One day I was at a school siteand they're like hey, you know,
(27:43):
I was there for three weeks andon the second week they called
me like hey, Eric, you will bereporting tomorrow to Building
Services.
And I was like, ok, am I introuble or something, or what is
going on, and they're like no,you're going to be reporting,
reporting with another gentlemanwho is now a custodial manager,
JJ Gonzalez, Mr.
John Gonzalez, and we startedoff doing furniture pickups and
(28:05):
stuff.
And we would pick up thefurniture and take it to the
warehouse that we have here nextdoor and we would try to
separate the good furniture fromthe bad furniture and try to
offer it to other schools andwhatnot.
And it's like, hey, we havethese many desks, do you need it
?
Yeah, we do need it.
Ok, we're going to take themover to you.
So that's how it started offwith, just so far, just me and
(28:28):
JJ, but there was other peoplebefore me, but I guess you could
say that it was more finalizedthrough us, but it has grown
now, it has grown.
It was n't a position beforeand, thanks to Gabriel, he was
able to make it a position, andit was something that I loved
because, like I said, the chaos,it was chaos.
(28:50):
Go over here, go over there andgo do this, go do that.
We've got to take care of this,we've got to do this.
Yeah, no problem, boss, I'm onit, you let me know, I'm on it
without hesitation.
And now it's gotten to thepoint where we're helping with
the graduation setups andwhatnot, and I honestly can't, I
can't wait to see where elsethis goes, because I, like I
(29:10):
said, never in a million yearsdid I ever think I was going to
be behind the scenes of agraduation.
Bianca Barquin (29:15):
Not one graduation, but many graduations
, and we are a large district.
So tell our listeners whatSPART stands for.
Maybe that will be helpful forthem.
Eric Salcedo (29:26):
It stands for Special Projects Asset Retention
Team.
Bianca Barquin (29:31):
Awesome.
Thank you for sharing, Eric.
I know that you talk a lotabout the importance of stepping
out of one's comfort zone.
Can you share a recent instancewhere you've done just that,
you've been stepping out of yourown comfort zone?
Eric Salcedo (29:48):
Yes, actually, and that was during our summer
school graduation.
I never thought that I'd be infront of students and parents.
And my wife, I told her thatthey asked me if I could be a
keynote speaker.
And she was like, well, I hopeyou're going to do it.
And I looked at her and I'mlike, well, what do I tell them?
She's like, well, tell themyour story, you know, tell them
what you went through.
(30:09):
And I'm like, yeah, but that'snot, that doesn't sound
important.
It's like it may not beimportant to you, but it might
be important to somebody else.
So then I took some time toreally think about it and, you
know, I wish somebody came up tome with the same experiences
that I was going through rightduring my graduation.
Bianca Barquin (30:33):
So, Eric, the quote you shared about everyone
working on their own timelinewhen you gave the speech during
our summer graduation ispowerful.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat and why that quote is so
meaningful for you.
Eric Salcedo (30:51):
So that quote actually came across on TikTok
and I felt like it was verypowerful to share.
And the reason is becausenowadays we all have phones and
we have these people that postup, you know, sometimes are
false things, right, tha hey,you know, by 30 you should be
(31:12):
here, by 22 you should be here.
And it pressures everybody intothis depression, I want to say,
or anxiety of, hey, you have tobe here, you're behind, you're
behind, you're behind.
It's like no, you're not behind.
Life comes at you the way itcomes at you, and you know, just
remember, it's never thedestination, it's the journey.
You know, it's always thejourney.
(31:35):
You can get to that destinationreal quick.
But where is the fun in that?
You know it's these experiencesthat life gives you that makes
up who you are and what you wantto become.
And this whole social mediathing you know, I have social
media, to be honest, and I didget at some point in my life
like, oh man, I should not bewhere I am or I would put myself
(31:56):
down, in other words.
And that's their journey.
Why are you worried about theirjourney?
You know, if that's somethingthat you want to do, then okay,
use it as motivation, but don'tlet it put you down.
Don't let it put you downbecause most of the time, most
of these people are just, youknow, showing off false things,
false realities, false, they'refalse idols.
Another thing, too, is they tryto tell you that it's easy.
(32:18):
It's never easy.
Nothing in this world that'sworth having is easy to get.
Bianca Barquin (32:25):
I love that.
So compelling for me.
Two things that you said soimportant: everyone is on their
own timeline and we have tohonor and respect that.
And you also said it's not justabout the destination, it
really is about the journey, andthat's something we should
focus on.
Okay, last question I have foryou before we get to our
(32:48):
Amplifier Acknowledgementsegment.
What's next for you, Eric?
What are you thinking about now?
Eric Salcedo (32:56):
I'm not sure, to be honest.
I'm more of a roll with thepunches kind of guy.
Of course, you know I want thebest for myself and I want the
best for my wife, my family, butjust like we go back to the
timeline, you have to let itcome to you.
I mean, yeah, if you wantsomething, go out and get it,
but if you feel lost, then justgo ahead and continue doing what
(33:20):
you're doing and life will cometo you.
That's pretty much how I am and, honestly, being on this
podcast was never in my cards.
Speaking in front of studentsand parents was never in my
cards.
Being in the position that I amat this job was never in my
cards.
Everything happens for a reason.
Everything happens for a reason, good and bad.
Bianca Barquin (33:42):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Now, before we sign off, it'stime for our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
So, Eric, if you could amplifythe message or lesson of an
educator, leader or anyone who'smade a significant impact in
your journey, who would it beand what was that impact?
Eric Salcedo (34:05):
I would say I would have two people in my life
.
Number one is my wife.
She has always pushed me to bethe person that she knows I can
be.
She pushed me for thegraduation speech.
She was on me every day.
Are you going to do it?
Are you going to do it?
Did you decide it?
Are you going to do it?
And she has always, always,always, always, supported me in
(34:30):
anything that I do or anythingthat I've done.
She will always support me ineverything that I would inspire
to do.
And then the second person is myboss, Mr.
Gabriel Camberos.
From the very beginning, sinceI started, he has pushed me as
well to do and to be the personthat he knows that I can be.
(34:52):
And to this day, he tries tomake me the better person in
every situation.
He tries to teach me everythingthat he can possibly teach me,
and through what I get throughthose messages is you could be
whatever you want to be as longas you want it for yourself.
(35:15):
And as soon as you want it foryourself, that's when your
journey begins.
Bianca Barquin (35:21):
I love it.
Thank you, and a huge thank youfor being here today and
powerful acknowledgements, but Ialso want to congratulate you
because I know today is youranniversary.
So congratulations to you andyour beautiful wife.
Eric, your journey is atestament to the fact that it's
not about how you start, but howyou choose to continue and
(35:44):
finish.
Your story is a beacon of hopeand a vivid reminder that every
student has their uniquetimeline and they all deserve
patience, understanding andunwavering support.
We're immensely grateful tohave had you on our Amplifying
Leadership Podcast today,sharing your heart, your wisdom
(36:04):
and your journey.
Thank you for reminding usabout the power of stepping out
of your comfort zones, theimportance of resilience and the
lasting impact of educators.
To all our listeners, let'scarry forth the lessons from
Eric's story and continue toamplify leadership in all that
we do.
Until next time, keep leading,keep learning and keep inspiring
(36:28):
.
Welcome back to another episode of SAUSD's
Amplifying Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin.
Today, we have a truly specialguest, a man whose story
embodies resilience,determination and the power of
taking chances.
He's a proud alumnus of SantaAna Unified School District and
(00:27):
a beacon of hope for manystudents who have faced similar
struggles.
Let's dive into the inspiringjourney of Eric Salcedo.
Eric, I am so excited to haveyou on our podcast today, and I
would love to dive right intoquestions.
So can you describe what it waslike growing up in SAUSD and
(00:50):
how did this environment shapeyou?
Eric Salcedo (00:53):
Hi Bianca, thank you very much for having me.
Well, I started very earlyactually, when I came to SAUSD.
My dad is a custodian here andhe still is a custodian for over
20 years.
When I was, I want to say, 11years old, I would come home
from school, from elementaryschool, and I would tell my mom
(01:14):
hey, mom, can I go with my dad?
Because he works two jobs untilthis day.
He worked two jobs then and heworks two jobs to this day and I
would go and ask my mom, if Ican, can I go with my dad, go
work with my dad?
Actually, yeah, you know, yougot to finish your homework, do
your work and then I can go dropyou off.
And we lived right across thestreet from the Santa Ana Zoo.
It was somewhat of a drive, butnot too far.
(01:36):
So every chance that I could, Iwould go and work with my dad.
He'd have me do the small stuff, take out the trash from the
classrooms and make sure thedoors were locked and stuff.
But of course he would go backand check them himself, because
an 11- year old, you checkingdoors and stuff.
But yeah, I did that just tospend time with my dad, but I
(01:59):
was going to Tustin schools andcame here when I was in eighth
grade and it was different.
It was different, that's forsure.
Even I want to say oh, I thinktwo weeks ago I ended up going
back to my old middle schoolthat I went to because they have
this event called Tustin TillerDays and it's a fair that they
have on their grounds, and beingthere brought back some
(02:19):
memories.
The school still looks the sameand whatnot, but the nostalgia
came back.
But to be honest, I love SantaAna Unified School District.
As soon as I came it wasdifferent.
One of my first experiencesthat I had was I came here for
summer school and then I wentinto eighth grade.
But one of the firstexperiences I had was trying to
meet friends, which was reallyhard to do.
(02:41):
You know, I was the kid thatcame from a different district
and as the years went by inschools and stuff, I would see
those kinds of kids come over aswell.
They all.
.
.
a different state or a differentcounty.
I forgot this one kid's name.
He came from Chicago, butimmediately I tried to be his
friend because I know exactlyhow he felt.
(03:02):
You feel like an outsider, youreally do.
You have these friends thatyou've had since elementary
school here and I didn't havethat here.
I had that back in Tustin.
So that experience was prettyhard on a kid and the reason why
I had to move is because we gotkicked out of our apartments.
I want to say it was my fault,but we would mess around with
(03:25):
the security guard and stufflike that, not like being mean
to him or anything like that.
We were just like tease him,like hey, because there was
curfew and we would gather abunch of kids and stuff like hey
, let's play hide from thesecurity guard, and I guess we
were the ones that he recognizedall the time.
So, yeah, we got evicted.
My brother and I got evicted.
(03:46):
I got us evicted but, like Isaid before during the
conversation earlier, we hadeverything happens for a reason
and I don't think that I wouldbe in the position that I am
today if stuff like that didn'thappen to me in the past.
Bianca Barquin (04:04):
So I know, Eric, that you transitioned to SAUSD
when you were in eighth grade.
That is a tough time to moveand I know you focused a lot on
making friends.
I've heard you tell me before,when we've talked, that you
weren't exactly the student wholoved to sit in the front of the
class and was really focused oninstruction and paying
(04:26):
attention to the teacher.
So what emotions were youwrestling with during those
times and where did you findyourself sitting in a classroom
and why?
Eric Salcedo (04:38):
Well, at the very beginning, the easiest friends
for me to make were, of course,the bad ones, and what I mean by
that is they were more ofaccepting and told hey.
.
.
just come over here and stuff.
But one person that I doremember, that was my friend
from the very beginning.
His name was Christian Medrano.
(04:59):
That was his name and heimmediately was like hey, come
over here, come hang out with meand stuff like that.
And of course, like I said,they were kind of the bad
friends, but we were gettinginto some stuff.
But as a kid sitting in theback and whatnot, just like any
other kid, now we feel like weknow it all, we feel like we are
invincible.
(05:20):
Then we're not.
To be honest, we really aren't.
We feel like anything thatanybody tells us that's not
going to happen.
We brush that off very, veryeasily because we have too much
going on.
There's too much going on withschools, with our friends.
Oh, hey, we're going to go dothis, we're going to do that.
That's more important, that wasmore important.
Bianca Barquin (05:40):
So you were considered, well.
.
.
one, you were hanging aroundfolks you said that possibly you
shouldn't have been hangingaround with, or you know, making
friends and just trying tosocially connect with people,
especially transitioning ineighth grade.
But I hear that you were one ofthe cool kids in school.
Were you?
Eric Salcedo (06:01):
Cool, tried to be, right?
And that's the thing, try to becool.
So, you know, I wanted to showeveryone I fit in.
You know, make a name formyself.
So I began to, you know, actout.
You know, interrupt class, bethe class clown.
And I guess it was theattention that I was getting
(06:22):
from everybody.
It's like, oh, you know, Eric,he's so funny and what that was
was what drove me and that's whyI would, you know, decide not
to pay attention, even thoughyou know, my parents taught me
right.
And you know, every single timemy parents dropped me off from
school, they're like hey, youknow, you know, échale ganas.
You know, give it your all andlearn.
(06:43):
But that was that wascompletely different as soon as
I walked through that, thosegates of school.
Bianca Barquin (06:50):
So, and that, and that's what I mean.
At the time, you thought youwere being cool because you were
really trying to socialize andwe understand.
There was an instance thatyou've talked to me about before
and I want you to be able toshare it with our listeners that
was a changing point in youreducational career, right?
So there was a point where,where things went in a
(07:12):
completely different directionand, honestly, it was related to
a substitute teacher that youhad at one particular point in
time, and you tell us that storyand what was it that the
substitute did or said that madeyou think about the world
differently?
Eric Salcedo (07:29):
So I honestly wish I could remember his name.
But, just like every otherteacher that we had, every
teacher cared right.
They showed, they cared.
They were always on you, theywere always on me and then they
were always like hey, come on,Eric, let's come on, do your
work, do your work, do your work, do your work.
Nobody's going to do this onceyou're out of school.
Nobody's going to do this,nobody's going to be behind you.
If you go to college and noone's going to be behind you to
(07:51):
do your work, it's all on you,it's all based on you.
But the thing about thissubstitute teacher was he was
young.
I want to say he was very young.
I want to say maybe he was in,he was 20.
.
.
27, I would say at the time.
And we would, we would messaround in that class and just
(08:12):
because he was a substitute, wewould mess around and it was us
in the back, not caring andwhatnot and throwing papers and
not paying attention.
And he would always tell us toquiet down and tell us hey be
quiet, please.
Those that want to learn, letthem learn.
Then one day he came in and hesaid we're going to do things
(08:35):
differently today, it waseverybody that wants to learn,
please sit in the front, andeverybody that doesn't, please
sit in the back.
So you know, hey, they gave usthe freedom to do so.
So we decided to sit in theback and have a grand old time.
We started making noise and westarted being disruptive and he
said hey, you know, can you guysplease quiet down?
(08:56):
I had a friend then that youknow responded in a very
disrespectful manner that Ican't say on here.
But after that he told us hegoes hey, if you guys don't want
to learn, that's fine with me,that's on you.
I'm here to do a job.
If you're going to stop me fromdoing that job, you know, by
all means, but don't interruptthese students that actually
(09:18):
want to learn and want toprogress.
You know, if you don't want tolearn, that's between you and
your parents.
So that's something that youhave to later on in life deal
with.
Right now you don't care.
And that stuck with me tillthis day, and what I feel he was
really trying to say is I don'thave time for you.
(09:38):
That's pretty much what he wastrying to say.
He gave off this energy.
Like you know, that's yourproblem, not mine.
He wasn't going to let usaffect him emotionally,
physically, if any.
But yeah, that still sticks meto this day because the energy
that he was giving off wassomething that I've never seen
(09:59):
in somebody.
Every other substitute wouldreact the way we wanted them to
react, right?
They got.
.
.
angry.
Oh you guys, blah, blah, blah,blah.
Ha ha ha, we got you.
We got you to that point.
We broke you.
But not this guy.
He didn't break.
He was more on the offensive,more than the defensive, and to
(10:20):
this day, I'm actually just theway he is.
If you don't have good energytowards me, I don't want you
around me.
If you bring no value to me,then why would I have you with
me?
And yeah, I don't give anybodythe time of day, and neither did
he.
Bianca Barquin (10:38):
Thank you for sharing that.
I really appreciated it andit's good to hear that somebody
not reacting emotionally to whatyou were doing as students at
the time and reacting in adifferent way which is something
that we as educators have tothink about all the time really
changed it for you and changedyour mindset and how you were
(11:02):
thinking about your schooling.
I do know that it got to apoint where you realized that
you were not going to be able tograduate on time as you
progressed, right, being a fewcredits shy of graduation.
How difficult was that for you,because I know how close you
are to your parents and I meanyou talked about your dad and
(11:25):
being with him when you had tolet them know that you weren't
going to graduate, when theythought that you were going to
graduate.
Eric Salcedo (11:31):
That day was pretty rough, the day I had to
tell them and just like anyother parent that's came to this
country to give their kids abetter lifestyle and their
family a better lifestyle, ithurt and I'll always remember
the look on my parents' face.
Throughout the years, they toldme you need to get it together,
(11:52):
you need to get it together,you need to think about your
future and whatnot.
And, like I said before, weknew it all, right?
I knew it all.
There was nothing that couldstop me.
There was nothing that couldaffect me in this way.
But what really affected me wasthe look on my parents' face
that I will never forget.
It was like the last nail inthe coffin.
It was like they had thissadness in their eyes like I
(12:15):
just committed a crime and I'llbe put away forever and it's
like the look was like they'vegiven up on me and that hurt.
It really did.
It really did.
I have never felt sodisappointed in my life until
that day.
So, I decided to make a changein myself after that.
I started passing all myclasses.
(12:35):
The following year I think thiswas my junior year I started
doing all my classes and I didend up going to some of
Centennial classes to finish.
I did try to do some afterschool programs and whatnot to
finish, and then throughout mysenior year, when I finished I
was still five credits short andit hurt because I did put all
(12:57):
this work in and I still didn'treach the goal that I wanted to.
But in the end I knew it was myfault because in the earlier
years I was a completelydifferent person and I feel like
throughout the years of gettingolder, through high school and
(13:20):
even till now, we gain moreknowledge and experience every
year, and every year we'rebetter.
Every year we're better.
We're all here first time.
Everyone's here for the firsttime.
My parents are here for thefirst time.
We only get one shot at thisand they're just trying to help
and show me with what they know.
But another thing about thatwhat really changed me was I
(13:44):
actually went to the graduationof my year and I saw the parents
.
I saw the look in their eyes,the joy that they had in their
eyes.
That should have been me, thatshould have been my parents, and
I feel like I stole that fromthem because I was careless.
I went to a graduation partyand the same thing I saw the
(14:06):
parents there, you know, happyas can be, and my parents are at
home, you know?
I should be at home.
Why am I at a party, agraduation party?
It was for my friend, but Ishould have been having my own
party, and that's what reallyhit me too.
Bianca Barquin (14:23):
Thank you for sharing that, and what I really
appreciate, though, is thechange in mindset in your
resiliency, right?
For you to work so hard toovercome, because it's a lot of
work to do that, and to be onlyfive credits shy shows that you
were on the right path.
Yes, you didn't get those fivecredits down in time for
(14:46):
graduation, but you were on theroad back right?
You were back on track.
So, from there you went toChavez High School, right?
Eric Salcedo (14:56):
No, I went to summer school for Valley.
Bianca Barquin (15:01):
So tell me more about how you made up those five
credits and what happened.
Eric Salcedo (15:06):
So it was actually kind of embarrassing, because
here I am, I'm supposed to be agraduated senior, but I'm not,
because I'm missing five credits.
I was a super senior in afreshman class, a freshman, yeah
, a freshman class trying tomake up five credits World
history it was, I remember.
A nd it was, it wasdisappointing and this is when I
(15:31):
realized, like, what am I doingwith myself?
What am I doing?
I need to be different, becauseI finished the work way before
everybody did, and what I meanby that is I knew the answers.
I knew the answers to thisstuff.
It's just my actions then and mycarelessness then didn't allow
(15:53):
me to do that.
So I actually finished summerschool.
It was two or three weeksearlier because my teacher would
come up to me and he's like,hey, I know you finished your
work and we still have half theday to go.
Do you want tomorrow's work?
And I said, if I can have it,yes, I will, I'll do that,
because I can't let you leave.
So I finished three weeks earlyand they actually let me leave,
(16:17):
and a few weeks later Ireceived my diploma.
So that was interesting and,like I said, it was very
disappointing that I knew thisstuff, but just the fact that I
wanted to show off and be cooland whatnot put me in that
position.
Bianca Barquin (16:36):
So we have just had our first summer graduation,
right, our first summergraduation in a long time.
We had had them before, buthadn't had them for a while and
we asked you to be able to speakand give a speech and tell your
story.
How did it feel to talk infront of all of those students
(17:00):
and to have the ability toinspire them with your story,
knowing that they were insimilar situations?
Eric Salcedo (17:08):
Well, I never thought that I would be in front
of an auditorium full ofparents and students.
And when Celeste came up to meduring our walkthrough at Top
100, at Guarantee Chevrolet, shesaid hey, I'm thinking about
doing a summer school graduationceremony.
What do you think?
(17:29):
I looked at her and I saidabsolutely, let's do it.
She goes oh, that was very fast.
Like why did you say yes?
I said because I'm a summerschool graduate and I don't know
why,but when I graduated, they had a
ceremony for us and I'mwondering why, since I started
(17:50):
working here, I've beenwondering why we don't have
those anymore.
She goes well, this will be thefirst one.
I'm like, well, I don't thinkso, because I had a ceremony
myself with every school andsome of my friends that were
summer graduates as well, and Ihave some friends that did
graduate that year andthroughout the summer that have
(18:12):
gone and are doing great thingswith their life now, and my
message I wanted to get acrosswas just because you hit a small
bump on the road, one of many,it's not something you can't
overcome.
You can do whatever you inspireyourself to be.
You can go out and do the exactsame thing those that graduated
during the regular graduationceremony.
(18:34):
You could still do it.
Bianca Barquin (18:36):
Thank you.
Now tell me what happened aftergraduation and how you ended up
working for SAUSD in theposition you're in now.
I want you to tell us the storyof what happened right after
graduation, where did you work,and tell us your experiences and
what led you to come back home.
Eric Salcedo (18:58):
So I first started working at Burlington Coat
Factory and I started there asan.
.
.
in shoes.
They had this issue with theshoes of.
.
.
It was just so unorganized and Iguess it was my OCD, my little
OCD that I had that I was like,no, I do not like this, I need
(19:19):
to do something about it.
And I just started adjustingand creating and making it mine,
in other words.
So I know exactly where to go,if somebody asked me a question,
I know exactly where to takethem, what I want and what not.
So I think that's where Istarted my, I guess, skills I
would say skills in life becauseat one point at Burlington we
(19:43):
had four people out on fourdifferent departments and I was
the only one, I guess, that camein.
So I had to run around andactually help everything and in
a way I kind of liked the chaos.
I really did because it kept mebusy and I don't know what it
is about chaos, but somethingabout chaos that you just want
to control it and make sure thateverything's gonna come out
(20:04):
well.
My manager was actually veryimpressed because I was helping
out this customer while I wasgoing out to do this customer
and then with this customer overhere.
But that was a short two years.
After that I went into an agencyand I started working at a
place called St.
Jude Medical.
It was a heart cathetermanufacturing factory and I
(20:27):
started off there in theshipping department sanitizing
the plastics that the heartcatheters go in and even the
heart catheters themselves.
We would have to completelygown down.
No hairs, no, nothing.
All skin was covered.
So I think I want to say, maybea few weeks into that my
(20:47):
supervisor came up to me and hegoes hey, would you be
interested in doing a qualitycontrol inspection?
And I'm like I have no ideawhat that is.
And he goes well, you just testthe catheters and make sure
that they're working.
I said, um, yeah, sure, I'llgive it a shot.
He goes it's good for yourresume and it's more money.
I'm like well, I'm up for moremoney, I told him, you know I
(21:09):
was, I wasn't liking the pay Iwas getting then, but it was
more than what I was making atBurlington and it was way more
than doing the quality controlinspection.
So I started off with agentleman there, his name was
Harold, Howard, sorry, notHarold, Howard.
Howard immediately took meunder his wing and he helped me
out throughout the entireprocess.
(21:31):
He showed me how to do whatthis machine does, what that
machine does.
Hey, while you're doing this,you know you can connect these
two, it's.
.
.
you know.
And then I actually got reallygood at it.
I got really good at it.
I was I was testing a wholetray, what I mean by tray is I
think they would have about 10catheters per tray and the goal
was, you know, you got to do atleast like 30 to have the quota,
(21:53):
to meet the quota for the day,and I was actually doing 40.
I actually got really good atthe chaos of connecting this one
to that one and then go runaround this one and do that one
and this, I make sure, write itdown and and whatnot.
So I got, I got really good atthat.
And then after that I went intoan electric company called
(22:13):
Schneider Electric and I guess Iwas making the main power
boards from the solar panels.
They go into that and they get,I guess, I guess it gets
converted, but there was a quotaon that that I had to do as
well, and I was actuallyoutpacing the person behind me
and I don't think she liked that, because I think I got fired
for that.
I think I was doing too good ofa job because nobody else was
(22:34):
putting out those numbers.
So you know, more complaintscame, I guess, of me, and I was,
I was let go.
My last job was for a aerospacecompany.
I was a quality controlinspector there for the, the
bolts and screws of the planesand I did that for, I want to
say, maybe about three years.
And that one was interestingtoo.
(22:57):
That was from three in theafternoon to one thirty morning,
with overtime of course.
Bianca Barquin (23:02):
So how did all of those experiences lead you
back to SA USD?
And clearly I mean you're ableto talk about how you quickly
picked up, in every positionthat you were in, the skills,
the knowledge, the dispositionnecessary to be successful and
to actually get the work done.
So when did you come back to SAUSD and what did you learn in
(23:27):
those previous positions thathelped you get to where you are
today?
Eric Salcedo (23:35):
I came back to SAUSD in 2016 as a substitute
custodian.
It was the last job that I hadthat made me realize what I was
doing, because, you know, I hadpreviously bounced from this job
to this job, and now this job,and now I'm here.
I was having a conversationwith one of the workers there
that I've he's pretty much beenthere his entire life, making
whatever he was making, and Ithought to myself, well, is this
(23:57):
something that I'm going to bedoing for the rest of my life?
You know, it wasn't like a niceplace to be, because it was, it
was machinery everywhere.
You smelled it.
You smell the oil in the air,you see it on the ground, you
know, and it's a easy place toeither get sick or to slip and
fall.
And you know, there goes yourentire career, there goes, in
(24:17):
other words, your life, becausesome injuries, you know, keep
you from doing a lot of things.
But there was a guy there thatworked for that company for 55
years.
One week they announced that hewas going to retire.
The night before his retirementday, he was struck and killed
by a car.
So that made me realize like,hey, if I continue to do this,
(24:44):
if I continue doing these jobs,this is gonna be my life.
And the previous year s myfather would ask me like hey,
Eric, you know, come work forthe school district, come work
for me to substitute custodian.
Like, I don't think I want todo that.
You know, I found it kind ofembarrassing.
You know, I'm gonna be cleaningup toilets, I'm gonna be
cleaning up classrooms andwhatnot but they got to that
(25:09):
point of me witnessing that andseeing that, you know, the guy
was very loved by everybodythere that worked there and I
said you know what?
I think it's time for me to dosomething different, something
more secure, I would say.
And my dad was like, you know,you can do many things in the
district.
You know, you can start off asa custodian, you can go into
(25:29):
management, you can do a lot ofthings, and I didn't see that in
those other jobs.
I really didn't and I don'treally see opportunity because
the guys that I would talk tothey're like oh, I've been here
for 34 years doing the samething.
I'm like you never want to goto management?
So I came in 2016 as asubstitute custodian and, just
like at my previous jobs, I justwent crazy.
(25:52):
I started mapping out my route.
I started, you know, okay, whattime are these classrooms busy
with the Engage 360 program,what restrooms can I do, and so
forth.
So I got really good at it andI got to the point where my
dad's like, hey, you know, ifyou want to continue working,
you know, go to your manager andtell him hey, you know my name
is Eric and if you ever need me,this is my phone number.
(26:14):
You can please call me and I'llbe available for you.
And they took that veryseriously.
And I was getting called leftand right.
I had a custodian call mealmost every day and asked me if
I was working.
And if I was, he told me tocall the manager and tell him no
, come work over here with me, Ineed you, because he liked the
way I worked.
But over the years I did acquirea lot of skills and just also,
(26:37):
too, based off of what I saw.
So I started applying that here.
I started applying everythingthat the customer service that I
got from Burlington because Ihad to deal with a lot of
customers.
I had to learn how to talk tothem, how to learn how to talk
to very specific people andhigher ups that would come and
visit.
And then through St.
Jude Medical, I learned youknow, the responsibility of
(27:00):
having such a high position,because quality control
inspector was the highestposition that you could be there
and you know, just going fromliterally the shipping
department to there, there was alot of responsibility that I
had to take on.
And I started doing that and Istarted applying that here.
Bianca Barquin (27:16):
Amazing.
So tell me, Eric, what are youdoing now?
Eric Salcedo (27:21):
So right now I'm in the department of the SPART
team, and the SPART team wassomething that Mr.
Camberos, Gabriel Camberos, wasworking on for quite some time,
and I don't know how, but I gotpicked up by Mr.
Camberos.
One day I was at a school siteand they're like hey, you know,
(27:43):
I was there for three weeks andon the second week they called
me like hey, Eric, you will bereporting tomorrow to Building
Services.
And I was like, ok, am I introuble or something, or what is
going on, and they're like no,you're going to be reporting,
reporting with another gentlemanwho is now a custodial manager,
JJ Gonzalez, Mr.
John Gonzalez, and we startedoff doing furniture pickups and
(28:05):
stuff.
And we would pick up thefurniture and take it to the
warehouse that we have here nextdoor and we would try to
separate the good furniture fromthe bad furniture and try to
offer it to other schools andwhatnot.
And it's like, hey, we havethese many desks, do you need it
?
Yeah, we do need it.
Ok, we're going to take themover to you.
So that's how it started offwith, just so far, just me and
(28:28):
JJ, but there was other peoplebefore me, but I guess you could
say that it was more finalizedthrough us, but it has grown
now, it has grown.
It was n't a position beforeand, thanks to Gabriel, he was
able to make it a position, andit was something that I loved
because, like I said, the chaos,it was chaos.
(28:50):
Go over here, go over there andgo do this, go do that.
We've got to take care of this,we've got to do this.
Yeah, no problem, boss, I'm onit, you let me know, I'm on it
without hesitation.
And now it's gotten to thepoint where we're helping with
the graduation setups andwhatnot, and I honestly can't, I
can't wait to see where elsethis goes, because I, like I
(29:10):
said, never in a million yearsdid I ever think I was going to
be behind the scenes of agraduation.
Bianca Barquin (29:15):
Not one graduation, but many graduations
, and we are a large district.
So tell our listeners whatSPART stands for.
Maybe that will be helpful forthem.
Eric Salcedo (29:26):
It stands for Special Projects Asset Retention
Team.
Bianca Barquin (29:31):
Awesome.
Thank you for sharing, Eric.
I know that you talk a lotabout the importance of stepping
out of one's comfort zone.
Can you share a recent instancewhere you've done just that,
you've been stepping out of yourown comfort zone?
Eric Salcedo (29:48):
Yes, actually, and that was during our summer
school graduation.
I never thought that I'd be infront of students and parents.
And my wife, I told her thatthey asked me if I could be a
keynote speaker.
And she was like, well, I hopeyou're going to do it.
And I looked at her and I'mlike, well, what do I tell them?
She's like, well, tell themyour story, you know, tell them
what you went through.
(30:09):
And I'm like, yeah, but that'snot, that doesn't sound
important.
It's like it may not beimportant to you, but it might
be important to somebody else.
So then I took some time toreally think about it and, you
know, I wish somebody came up tome with the same experiences
that I was going through rightduring my graduation.
Bianca Barquin (30:33):
So, Eric, the quote you shared about everyone
working on their own timelinewhen you gave the speech during
our summer graduation ispowerful.
Tell me a little bit more aboutthat and why that quote is so
meaningful for you.
Eric Salcedo (30:51):
So that quote actually came across on TikTok
and I felt like it was verypowerful to share.
And the reason is becausenowadays we all have phones and
we have these people that postup, you know, sometimes are
false things, right, tha hey,you know, by 30 you should be
(31:12):
here, by 22 you should be here.
And it pressures everybody intothis depression, I want to say,
or anxiety of, hey, you have tobe here, you're behind, you're
behind, you're behind.
It's like no, you're not behind.
Life comes at you the way itcomes at you, and you know, just
remember, it's never thedestination, it's the journey.
You know, it's always thejourney.
(31:35):
You can get to that destinationreal quick.
But where is the fun in that?
You know it's these experiencesthat life gives you that makes
up who you are and what you wantto become.
And this whole social mediathing you know, I have social
media, to be honest, and I didget at some point in my life
like, oh man, I should not bewhere I am or I would put myself
(31:56):
down, in other words.
And that's their journey.
Why are you worried about theirjourney?
You know, if that's somethingthat you want to do, then okay,
use it as motivation, but don'tlet it put you down.
Don't let it put you downbecause most of the time, most
of these people are just, youknow, showing off false things,
false realities, false, they'refalse idols.
Another thing, too, is they tryto tell you that it's easy.
(32:18):
It's never easy.
Nothing in this world that'sworth having is easy to get.
Bianca Barquin (32:25):
I love that.
So compelling for me.
Two things that you said soimportant: everyone is on their
own timeline and we have tohonor and respect that.
And you also said it's not justabout the destination, it
really is about the journey, andthat's something we should
focus on.
Okay, last question I have foryou before we get to our
(32:48):
Amplifier Acknowledgementsegment.
What's next for you, Eric?
What are you thinking about now?
Eric Salcedo (32:56):
I'm not sure, to be honest.
I'm more of a roll with thepunches kind of guy.
Of course, you know I want thebest for myself and I want the
best for my wife, my family, butjust like we go back to the
timeline, you have to let itcome to you.
I mean, yeah, if you wantsomething, go out and get it,
but if you feel lost, then justgo ahead and continue doing what
(33:20):
you're doing and life will cometo you.
That's pretty much how I am and, honestly, being on this
podcast was never in my cards.
Speaking in front of studentsand parents was never in my
cards.
Being in the position that I amat this job was never in my
cards.
Everything happens for a reason.
Everything happens for a reason, good and bad.
Bianca Barquin (33:42):
I love that.
Thank you so much.
Now, before we sign off, it'stime for our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
So, Eric, if you could amplifythe message or lesson of an
educator, leader or anyone who'smade a significant impact in
your journey, who would it beand what was that impact?
Eric Salcedo (34:05):
I would say I would have two people in my life
.
Number one is my wife.
She has always pushed me to bethe person that she knows I can
be.
She pushed me for thegraduation speech.
She was on me every day.
Are you going to do it?
Are you going to do it?
Did you decide it?
Are you going to do it?
And she has always, always,always, always, supported me in
(34:30):
anything that I do or anythingthat I've done.
She will always support me ineverything that I would inspire
to do.
And then the second person is myboss, Mr.
Gabriel Camberos.
From the very beginning, sinceI started, he has pushed me as
well to do and to be the personthat he knows that I can be.
(34:52):
And to this day, he tries tomake me the better person in
every situation.
He tries to teach me everythingthat he can possibly teach me,
and through what I get throughthose messages is you could be
whatever you want to be as longas you want it for yourself.
(35:15):
And as soon as you want it foryourself, that's when your
journey begins.
Bianca Barquin (35:21):
I love it.
Thank you, and a huge thank youfor being here today and
powerful acknowledgements, but Ialso want to congratulate you
because I know today is youranniversary.
So congratulations to you andyour beautiful wife.
Eric, your journey is atestament to the fact that it's
not about how you start, but howyou choose to continue and
(35:44):
finish.
Your story is a beacon of hopeand a vivid reminder that every
student has their uniquetimeline and they all deserve
patience, understanding andunwavering support.
We're immensely grateful tohave had you on our Amplifying
Leadership Podcast today,sharing your heart, your wisdom
(36:04):
and your journey.
Thank you for reminding usabout the power of stepping out
of your comfort zones, theimportance of resilience and the
lasting impact of educators.
To all our listeners, let'scarry forth the lessons from
Eric's story and continue toamplify leadership in all that
we do.
Until next time, keep leading,keep learning and keep inspiring
(36:28):
.
Popular Podcasts
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.