Known for her warmth and determination, Ana Romo’s impact goes far beyond academics at Redwood, inspiring her Avid students to believe in themselves and their potential.
By: Madison Moya
Ana Romo is a current AVID and ELD teacher. She has worked at Redwood for 19 years, AVID teacher for 18 years. She takes her teaching to a personal level and leaves her students with memories, lessons, and a person to talk to when life gets hard.
Even at the mention of her graduate students, Romo gets tearful.
She says, “Class of 2012 were like my first AVID babies, I don’t call them babies because one of them just celebrated their birthday and they’re 31-32. So they have kids of their own, and I’m like, well, you’re not supposed to get married, you’re like a freshman.”
Being an AVID teacher, Romo watches her students grow from freshmen to seniors. When the time for college applications comes around, it’s not only her students waiting in suspense, it’s her as well.
She says, “Even though I’m not the one who is applying, when you get that rejection, I take it personal because then I’m thinking, I didn’t get you there…If it’s bad news for me, I know how bad it is for you.”
classes. Photo.Gigantea
Romo’s students often show their love through gifts. She often gets graduation invites and presents from her students. She hasn’t attended a graduation yet in fear of being too emotional, but she keeps every single item she has been gifted. In her classroom, you’ll see a wall of pictures, cards, or little gifts from her students from past years.
“Almost 20 years later, I have like a ton of stuff [from students] and I feel bad throwing it away,” She says
Even while pregnant, Romo’s students wrote her letters to the hospital when she didn’t show up to school.
One of Romo’s graduates is Julia Basilio ’19. Basilio was Romo’s student for 3 years. She kept in contact with her and even runs THRIVE club here at Redwood, in Romo’s classroom.
Basilio has a lot to thank Romo for. She says Romo is the only reason she went to college.
celebration. Photo Gigantea
“Seriously, she was the one that was like my motivator throughout high school, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have got into college, I feel like. No, I truly, truly believe that,” Basilio says.
Basillo has gotten to know Romo as an adult after being her student.
She says, “Its really interesting because you get to know why she does the things that she does, you really come to understand all the things that she does behind the scenes that we don’t get to see as students, but now as adults were like, oh wow, that’s really meant so much to us because she was there and it really shows that she did so much as a teacher.”
After graduating, Basilio would check in with Romo with life updates. She would also come to her with questions, and during COVID, she updated her on the important moments going on in her life.
“She’s amazing, she knows how to really show us as students how much she really cares about us,” Basilio says.
Romo hates to brag, but her abilities go beyond being a great teacher. She was an alumna of Redwood and was valedictorian of her graduating year, 1999.
After graduating, she attended COS and then Fresno State. When she got her credentials, she came to work at Redwood.
“My first year, I taught nothing but English 1. Five classes of nothing but freshman…my second year of teaching, Mrs. Moran came to me and said, ‘Hey, how would you like to teach AVID?’ and I was like, I don’t know what that is, so then she explained it to me…I didn’t know what I was signing up for, but I’m really glad that she thought of me because I’ve been doing it ever since.” She says.
Mrs. Moran has worked at Redwood for over 20 years. She knew Romo when she attended Redwood as a student.
“[As a student] she was very studious, very on top of it, and did everything she was supposed to do,” Moran says.
Moran also thinks Romo is a hilarious person now.
Moran says Romo wasn’t her first choice for the job position as an AVID teacher, but now she’s glad she thought of her because she has all the right qualities.
“I felt like she can relate to AVID students because I think she was in the same spot in high school that they are, and she can relate to them… she brings a lot of creativity to her teaching and shares that with people that work with her,” She says.
Natalia Ulloa ’28 is a current AVID student. This is her second year having Romo as her teacher. She’s done AVID for four years now, but none of her past AVID teachers compares to Mrs. Romo.
“[Mrs. Romo] cares about students past their grades…she’s more than just a teacher,” Ulloa says.
Romo knows that her students need more advice outside of college preparedness.
Ulloa says, “She gives us a guide…she teaches us things that we need outside of school, for a job and things…she listens to our problems and if we have any concerns. She doesn’t make teaching her whole personality, unlike other teachers.”
Romo is welcoming to any students, even those who aren’t hers. Her door is always open, with the exception of when she has meetings. She’s always there when someone needs someone to talk to.
“Ever since freshman year, [me and my friends I] have been going to Mrs. Romo’s room at lunch…every day after that, she messes around with us. She says she’s going to lock [her door], and she never does. It’s been like that for two years now,” Ulloa says.
Madison Moya
Tags: alumni, AVID, humans of redwood, Mrs.romo, redwood avid, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood teachers, students
