After a long year of school online, there are many new faces on the school campus. Cypress High School is lucky to have a new counselor, Erika Yi! She has a unique role as a program counselor at Cypress High School and works with other staff to support student language learners. A fun fact about her was that she taught golf for four years at a high school!

Ms. Yi’s family lived in Argentina and learned from many experiences during her childhood. While growing up and going to school, she slowly started to realize that the school system had some issues starting from communication. As Ms. Yi continued her education, she was motivated to help people who did not speak English as their first language. 

Before coming to Cypress High School, Ms. Yi served as a high school in San Marcos Unified for six years. Prior to that, she was a college advisor at Cal State Long Beach for two years. She came to CHS because she believes our school is more diverse and she has the opportunity to work with more diverse students and families. Also, now, she is able to work closer to her family. 

People who supported her during her journey included her mom and brother. She said, “I don’t think that I would be here without them.” Even though Ms. Yi’s family did not work in the educational field, she received constant encouragement and support from them. She is thankful for her administrators and teachers who saw something in her as she was growing up.

Something that she reminds herself of is why she got into education in the first place. “It’s not about just being a counselor, but having leadership.”