who is Genoveva Cortes?
Early Life
Considered a ward of the court when she was only thirteen years old as a result from her very traumatic and abusive upbringing, Genoveva Cortes was born in Champagne, Illinois, but spent the early years of her childhood growing up mostly in Santa Monica and Sylmar, California in the San Fernando Valley. Her father, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, enlisted in the Air Force during the seventies in an effort to become a citizen whereas her mother, who was from El Salvador, became pregnant when she was fifteen. Genoveva’s parents were forced to be married due to her mother’s religious Catholic beliefs. Regardless, Genoveva spent her adolescent years in Santa Monica, attending a Catholic school there for a couple of years, until her parents were able to purchase a home in the San Fernando Valley, moving there for 6th grade. Her father had a strong work ethic and so she learned from his example. He always had numerous jobs, he never had just one job, he always had two or three. Genoveva’s mom was very young when she had her, a kid having a kid, and one of the only pieces of advice she remembered was to get an education because that is the one thing no one can take away from you. Her mother always regretted that she never had a chance to go to college and having Genoveva so young, “Essentially her life was kind of cut short, not that she was blaming me for being born, but she would have so many different opportunities if she did not have me so she did not want me to make the same mistake.”
By the time she was in 10th grade Genoveva was back in the foster care system, now having to move to the West Side, or West Los Angeles. There she went to University High School, later on going off to Santa Monica College before transferring to UCLA to receive her undergraduate degree, and years later graduating from Harvard with a Master’s in Education. Being the oldest of three, one younger brother and sister, Genoveva carried an overwhelming burden of feeling that she needed to be the role model, struggling with her own mental health as a result of the trials and tribulations she faced. Genoveva stated, “What kept me alive was my siblings, who would be there to take care of them? I think I did, for the most part, a good job of being the person I wanted to be so that I could be a role model for them because I saw that they did not have any positive role models, none of us did growing up.”
Adolescent Years-Overcoming Challenges
When attending University High School while also being in foster care living on the West Side, Genoveva was the only Latina in her AP English class during her junior year. At the time all of her classmates were talking about their college lists, where they would be applying, who would be writing their letters of recommendation, but Genoveva soon came to the realization that no one had ever talked to her about going to college. She decided to talk to her counselor whom she had only met once when she first started at her new school. Throughout the course of almost two years not once did her counselor call her aside to ensure that she had acclimated to the new school environment or reached out to check in. Now due to this, Genoveva felt like she had to be proactive, if no one was coming to her she would simply go to them to ask questions because she did not know the first thing about going to college as her father had about a 3rd or 4th grade education. Her mother dropped out of school when she was 15, when she had her, so she was done by the 8th or 9th grade. As she approached the office to meet with her counselor there were an abundance of college pennants that decorated the room, but as she sat down Genoveva inquired about what she needed to start doing to prepare to go to college. However, as she pulled up her grades, and classes the counselor looked up to her and said, “‘Well you can always go to a local Cal State... and now there was nothing wrong with that option, but I felt that she wasn’t encouraging me to aim high… I asked her what about that college there, it was a pennant for Harvard and she said ‘Harvard? You want to go to Harvard? Let me show you Harvard.” The counselor proceeded to stand up, walk her down the hall where the main office was and there was a guy answering the phones who Genoveva had known was a senior, captain of the debate team, student body ASB president, he was like Mr. University High, and he was volunteering during his lunch break so the secretaries could have their lunches. Her counselor pointed at him and told Genoveva, “That is Harvard, he just got accepted and he is going to be starting there in the fall.” Underneath the surface, Genoveva felt what she was trying to imply was that he was Harvard caliber and she was not, and that she should not aim so high or be so ambitious. It was a demoralizing and embarrassing experience for her because she was made to feel inferior for even thinking that she could aspire to go to such a prestigious school. Even to this day, when Genoveva recollects that moment it still angers her, that a counselor, someone who is supposed to be affirming, uplifting and encouraging students to be ambitious set the bar so low? Having never understood why her counselor thought so little of her, unsure if it was because she was in foster care, her Latina heritage, or that she was poor. Genoveva got the sense she would have received a lot more help if she were from a different household. At the time, Genoveva did not feel confident enough to advocate for herself because she did not have her voice yet, and felt that it was not her place to express the emotions she felt at the time.
College, Harvard Years and Beyond
After receiving her undergraduate degrees from UCLA, a few years later Genoveva met her beloved husband Pedro through their mutual friend Veronica. Coincidentally, the entire four years the two went to school together and their paths never crossed, not even when attending UCLA’s Latino celebration known as Raza. Full of mariachi, Azteca dancers, LatinX politicians, guest speakers, and fiesta fun, the students would always take a panorama picture, and there was Pedro, about twenty feet away from her in the photo prior to them meeting. Genoveva remarked, “I had no idea that the father of my kids was just a couple feet away from me.”
Nearly twenty years later Genoveva had been married, with a two-year old son and now pregnant with her daughter. She decided to apply to graduate school, “I should have done it way before I started a family, so I kind of did it backwards, but nevertheless I did it… I found out on a Monday that I got accepted into Harvard and on that Thursday my daughter was born… I deferred my admission for a year because we needed to now strategize, okay, how are we going to physically move from Alhambra all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts?” That year allowed for them to figure out all the financial aspects of how this was going to work and save money.
Now a Harvard graduate with a Master’s Degree in Education, Genoveva currently is the director of a college access and success program for first-generation college students at a local charter school network. She has developed and launched their college access program, serving predominantly Latino, African-American working class families, and first generation students to ensure that they are able to navigate and thrive in college so they can succeed in graduating. Her personal experience with a counselor who tried to discourage her from achieving her goals and dreams has been something that still resonates with her. In her position now she does a lot of college counseling and coaching, ensuring that she is always mindful of the words she uses, as she wants to make sure that her students always know that she believes in them. “You never know how much fire they have or what their potential is, a grade or your GPA is not your identity, it is just a snapshot of how you have been doing in school.” Always walking into counseling sessions with a positive mindset, ready to support her students no matter what their goals are. Genoveva emphasizes that her role is not to discourage the dreams or aspirations of others, rather see how she can better support her students in making them happen.
South Pasadena and Making a Difference
Having just returned from Havard, the Cortes family moved back to Alhambra where her suegros, in-laws, lived as they had a studio apartment in their backyard where she lived with her husband and two children until they could save enough money for a down payment on a home. As someone who had never lived East of the 405 freeway, she jokingly admitted to her husband, “The only way I would ever live out here in the San Gabriel Valley is if we could find a house here, specifically in South Pasadena.” Genoveva claimed the stars aligned and we were able to get this house, as they were drawn in by South Pasadena’s small knit community, top-knotch school system and relatively diverse neighborhood. Genoveva believes representation is getting better, but would like to see more LatinX citizens on the school board and city council. Although Genoveva would make an amazing representative for the community, she claims, “I am not cut out for that, that is not me. But I am hoping someone else would be open to the idea, especially because we are a significant part of this community.”
Over the years Genoveva became involved with Vecinos de South Pasadena as she co-created College Knowledge Academy for parents of students who attend not only SPHS, but SPMS as well. She received outreach support from former school board member Dr. Suzie Abajian, and began teaching a series of about 6 to 7 classes mostly held at the South Pasadena Middle and High School libraries where parents came to learn about how to help their child go to college. Some parents were immigrants and others were those who did not have an opportunity to go to college, therefore do not understand how it works, but they all wanted to be a part of the process in order to help their child receive a post-secondary education. Meeting on Saturdays, Genoveva had a curriculum in which she went over everything that they would need, “a crash course on how to help your child go to college” as what she referred to it as an effort to break the generational cycle of the underlying oppression minorities often face as a result of a lack of opportunities provided for their parents and themselves.
Greatest Impact
“Jackie” or Jackeline Friedman Stoltz, the mother of Genoveva’s first boyfriend in high school played an important role in her life. To this day they still meet for dinner a few times a year. In a sense she adopted Genoveva as one of her own, she looked after her and her entire family really influencing Genoveva. “This family just went above and beyond to help me access higher education… If it wasn’t for her hope, guidance and support, who knows where I would be.” Jackie is the reason why her son has a name of Jewish origin because she wanted something that would help her always remember this woman who made such a tremendous impact on her life. Attributing much of her success to the mentors she had in her life, Genoveva felt, “If it wasn’t for all these people that I consider to be my angels who helped guide me I wouldn’t be sitting here in this house, in South Pasadena.”
Life Accomplishments
Genoveva believes her greatest accomplishment was her ability to seek a higher education and go to college. Unfortunately, “Latinos have one of the lowest college attainments in the country,” Genoveva explained, adding that, “when you look at foster youth in particular they have the lowest and worst outcomes of any other demographic… highest rates of teen pregnancy, lowest educational attainment, highest rates of homelessness, drug abuse, worst health care disparities, highest rates of addiction and of sex work. It is horrific for foster youth and nationwide a little over 3% of foster youth earn a Bachelor's Degree and about 1% earn a Graduate Degree, so I am a part of that 1% population.” Geneveva overcame incredible obstacles to achieve her academic goals and to not receive her undergraduate degree, but her master’s degree as well.
consejos/advice for the next Generation of latinas and youth
“To find mentors, to find people that believe in you and if somebody tells you know, go around them, go above them, find somebody who will tell you yes. Aim high, always aim high, never settle because then you are going to live a life of regret if you do.”
