For Buena Student, Cap and Gown Cap a Turnaround in Values

VENTURA — For many of his classmates, it may have been a given to graduate from high school. But for Jaime Martinez, donning a cap and gown Thursday would have been a pipe dream just a few years ago.

The Buena High School senior felt he had spent most of his life going down the wrong path.

But with the help of people he once thought of as enemies, he graduated with 430 other Buena students, cheered on by his mother, two sisters, six aunts and two uncles. His grade-point average was 3.2, up from 1.0 two years ago.

“I didn’t think I was going to graduate,” Jaime said. “It was hard work, but I accomplished my goal.”

His parents, farm workers from Mexico, immigrated to East Los Angeles, where Jaime was born. His divorced mother moved the family to Ventura when Jaime was 4.

The youngster performed miserably at Montalvo Elementary School. With only Spanish spoken at home, he had difficulty understanding his teacher’s English.

At Anacapa Middle School, matters only got worse. He snuck out of class, occasionally smoking a joint in the bathroom or behind bushes. He ditched school to have beers at his friends’ homes.

His mother struggled to start a building-maintenance business, working hard to support Jaime and his two younger sisters all living at the Montalvo housing project. Sometimes his mother was unable to get home from work before 3 a.m.

His friends were in gangs. But Jaime always told himself he wouldn’t become a gang member too. But in the end, he felt he had no choice.

Failure became familiar. By the end of his sophomore year at Buena, he had flunked 12 classes.

His main goal was to impress his gang buddies. He stole beer, smoked cigarettes and marijuana. And he liked to fight.

“I didn’t care, when I was around my friends,” Jaime said. “That was a good thing to do, to hurt people. I thought that was the right thing to do to show off.”

One by one, his friends were kicked out of school. He was furious at Cheryl Partin), a Buena assistant principal. But when he met her, she was different from what he had expected. “It was weird because she really knew me right away and knew what I liked and who I was,” Jaime said. “I even told her about the gang.”

Partin kept close tabs on Jaime. She encouraged him to get involved in school activities.

At about the same time, his mother caught Jaime smoking with the gang. She got out of her car and literally yanked him away from his group of friends. She moved the family to a different neighborhood several miles away, and that helped Jaime change.

With encouragement from Partin, he joined BRAVEHEART, a school club aimed at encouraging compassion for others. And three days a week, he began tutoring younger children at the Montalvo Police Storefront.

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The police he once hated became his friends.

“He changed directions because of this belief that people believed in him,” Partin said.

His mom’s company began to prosper.

“What I saw from her was hard work, and it made me think, ‘Wow, she’s from [Mexico] and doing it,’ ” Jaime said.

As well as his school and storefront activities, he baby-sat his younger sister and rushed off to adult school until 9 p.m. to make up credits for failed classes.

“He kind of had a whole new world open up to him,” Partin said. “He’s made a lot of good choices and continues to do that.”

Jaime’s work paid off.

Thursday, Jaime became the first in his family to graduate from high school.

“It means everything,” he said.