‘To me, education is power’: CCWF instructor shares the keys of her success

Many Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) students are familiar with a petite dynamo of a teacher with undeniable style. A talented GED instructor at CCWF, G. Valenzuela, is proof that an expansive heart can come in a small package. She has a love for math, the ability to temper firmness with patience, and a magic for motivating students.

Valenzuela’s math expertise and clear teaching style are especially valuable to GED students, as math is the most challenging GED test for many. Her colleagues agree.

During Teacher Appreciation Week in 2025, fellow staff remembered Valenzuela’s story from a past graduation speech and interviewed her for the 2025 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Teacher Spotlight, which was circulated statewide by CDCR.

I spoke with Valenzuela about how her own experiences inspired her to teach underserved women.

Q: Tell me about your background and childhood.

A: I was born in Madera, California. My parents were completely dysfunctional. My father was an alcoholic, and my mother was physically abusive. My sister and I, as a result, were in trouble in school, running away, and going off with boys. We were stealing cars, going to juvenile hall, and I was pregnant and had a baby at 15 years old.

Q: It sounds like that was a pivotal point.

A: Yes. My mom threw me to the street with the clothes on my back, a baby in one hand, my purse in the other, and I never went back. From that point, I started to take my education seriously.

It was so important to me to graduate with my class of 1994, so I went to night school. I sacrificed my lunch my whole senior year, serving lunch to the teachers so I could get extra credits, and I was able to graduate with my class. I was so proud, because I was renting a room with a baby. I was on government assistance, and I’m pushing my stroller in the rain and 100-degree heat, doing diapers and papers at 15, 16, 17.

That day I graduated… I won a car that night. It was the coolest thing ever, because all my friends left, and I stayed. They gave me their tickets… so at the end of the night, they called a number and I won the car — me and my baby. It was a two-seater… with his little car seat in the front seat.

I went to college… and I knew that I had to give this baby a life that I never had. I was team mom, soccer coach, ball coach, and vice-president of the parent club. I was coaching every one of his sports until he got older, then I was the team mom providing snacks.

I did get married and divorced, and had a daughter. She didn’t have the struggle and the homelessness and the poverty, and she’s very proud of her brother. She’s doing great, too.

She graduated [college] with a biochemistry degree. My son graduated from Fresno State with a Bachelor’s in criminology, and he was a police officer at 21.

And that little kid that my mom told me would not amount to anything… I stand before you today with a Master’s degree and a career that I love.

Q: So even as a kid, you had a drive, a resistance.

A: Yeah, to (my parents’) negative messages. I wanted to be the opposite of them. My poor dad was a nice guy, but he was drunk. He couldn’t hold jobs, he crashed cars, went to prison… he had his own demons, things that happened to him when he was little.

My sister, she’s two years older… she is a homeless addict. We speak every other month or so. We don’t have anything in common except that we share a vulnerable past. She couldn’t overcome it.

Having my baby changed my world. He saved me in every way a person can be saved. And it wasn’t easy. I said, “I gotta keep him away from drugs, alcohol, bad influences.” Both the kids are doing good. And when the last one went off to college, I just exhaled.

Q: Obviously, you value education highly. What would you say is so important about it?

A: To me, education is power… It’s very difficult to raise a family, own a home, travel — all the wonderful things America gives you — without education. Education was an expectation in my home. From the time [my kids] were little, they knew that college was where they were going.

Q: You must be so proud of them. A: So proud. I just visited my son. When your children want to hang out with you as adults, that says something. My daughter has a chemist job; she’s doing really well.

Q: Yeah, definitely. What are you focused on now?

A: Now I’m taking time for me, living my best life. I’m going to concerts, and my first cruise is coming up! I saw Mariah Carey in Las Vegas.

Q: Any other plans?

A: I’m writing a book. There’s so much in my life — struggles and triumphs — that shows that change is possible. There are women here who’ve had it so much worse than me. It doesn’t end with them here; they can change their minds and change their path.