Selwyn Daye describes his return to Hartnell College after 13 years of work for a
Salinas agricultural packaging company as a “leap of faith.”
As he moves on to Cal State Monterey Bay in the joint Hartnell-CSUMB Teacher Pathway Program (TPP), he is doubling down on that faith and continuing toward his goal of becoming an elementary school teacher.
Although his prior teaching experience is limited to youth sports and mentoring new hires on the job, Daye said he believes in himself and has family and friends who believe in him, too.
“As far as teaching, it’s been a real new chapter for me,” he said. “It’s easy for me to get along with kids and help and guide them, but actually going through the process of teaching has been a real learning experience for me – to explain how to solve the problem.”
Daye first attended Hartnell in 2004 after graduation from North Salinas High School. He played safety and running back for the Panthers football team, but left college for the working world before he completed his degree.
Recently remarried and the first-time dad of a 3-year-old son, he has taken heavy course loads over the past year to catch up with his TPP cohort. But first he had to decide whether to continue building seniority with the box company or return to Hartnell.
“It was getting to the crunch time of whether I am going to make this a career or not,” Daye said of his previous job. “The money was good, but the hours are dreadful sometimes.”
With advice from Hartnell counselors, he found his way into a TPP information session and felt it might be a good fit for his natural rapport with children. He consulted with his wife, Lorisa , and decided to go for it.
Before the COVID-19 shutdown in mid-March, Daye was able to compile 16 hours of classroom observation in kindergarten and first-grade at Laurelwood Elementary School in Salinas. He hopes to teach in Salinas after completing his bachelor’s degree at CSUMB and obtaining his teaching credential.
Daye, who turns 34 in June, is the first in his family of four siblings to obtain a college degree, a source of pride for his mother, Jacquelyn Camacho.
As a stepdad to three children, Daye will be proud himself to graduate with his stepson, Nigel McKelvey, who will continue on to study agriculture at Fresno State University.
He is clear-eyed about the financial challenges of continuing to pursue his college education but said he is convinced he is doing the right thing, and he offered this advice to others like himself:
“I would just like to say that whatever your desire or your passion, do not let it die.”