ABOUT ANDY
I was raised by two parents who dedicated their careers to education, and I was taught by Fresno Unified schools. The Fresno High School area, which I am running to represent, is where I was born and put on the path I am on today. That path led me to spend years in education, working with the national organization New Leaders to support principals leading high-poverty schools and to get my own graduate degree from Columbia University in the Sociology of Education.
In 2012, I made the best decision of my life to come back home to Fresno and dedicate my career to bringing community together around our shared concerns. At Faith in the Valley, we built a multi-faith coalition that advocated for healthy housing, cracking down on predatory lending, and preventing gun violence. And along the way we modeled how people can work together to make real change in our community.
Teaching now in the Sociology Department at Fresno State, I am inspired every day by our students, almost all of them from the Central Valley and the first in their families to attend college.
I am now ready to bring my experiences and belief in the power of education back to the school district that raised me. My parents showed me the impact of educators. My dad taught at Fresno State for 45 years and my mom worked as a school psychologist helping students with social and emotional challenges make it through Fresno County schools. They made sure I understood that the doors that were opened for me weren’t always open for many of my friends and classmates - and that I had a responsibility to hold the door open for those coming behind me. Serving my school district as a Fresno Unified Trustee is the best way I know to do just that.
