Schools are nothing without the help of front office staff and not too many people know the behind the scenes of their lives that play an important role in where they are now. Insight staff recently caught up with attendance clerk Rebecca Sanchez to get a closer look at who she is.

Sanchez is the attendance clerk who works with last names A-L. She also works in the student services department to help out with the COVID matter.

“I love everyone in the office; they are all so helpful and welcoming. I just started working here in October so I didn’t know anyone here or the district so for me, everyone was just so welcoming since day one,” said Sanchez. “I’ve had jobs where I would wake up and I’m like ‘I don’t want to go to work’ but this job I really love.” 

There’s a connection between who Sanchez is and how she made her way to West Covina High School. 

“I’m Hispanic and my parents were really strict growing up so I feel like that shaped me into the person I am now. I grew up in a household where there’s a lot of educators, like my mom. She is a teacher. My dad didn’t finish school so he took care of us growing up,” Sanchez said. 

Some of her favorite things to do are cooking, going to the beach with her dogs, running, and surfing. When she was younger she mentioned how she was very active, having played sports such as volleyball and track. 

As for what motivates her, Sanchez believes in the importance of having the support of those around you. 

“Motivation is thinking about the future and the things that I want to accomplish. Also obviously having people you love around you and doing things you love is also helpful because we do have our down hills,” said Sanchez. 

As far as future aspirations, Sanchez is currently in school as she wants to be an educator. For that reason, one of her goals is to finish school. Another goal she has as of now is to find that special  person and hopefully start a family. Lastly, she hopes to start her own candle business.

Although she’s set on future goals, Sanchez recognizes that life is not without its challenges on the road to where she is now.

“For me personally, I went through a really hard time in my life where I was hurt by a person and it really brought me down. I put a hold on my education, my job, my family and I lost a lot of friends. I isolated myself from everyone,” she said.

“You guys are in high school so I feel like you guys would probably relate to this. We meet a person and they make a huge impact in our life and I feel that sometimes we pause everything around us for a specific individual. I would say, don’t focus on the present, think about the future and don’t put your dreams or even your goals on hold for a specific person because you never know what’s going to happen next,” she continued.

 “What I did to overcome that is surrounding myself with people that motivated me. Focus on people who have the same goals as you do because that’s going to help you overcome a lot of things,” Sanchez said. 

As for advice she would give to students or anyone in life: 

“Focus on yourself, your dreams, your goals and pursue them. It’s going to be really hard, but you just have to be strong enough to be able to overcome it. Don’t focus on anyone else but you because at the end of the day, you can have it all, but if you don’t have yourself personally, you won’t have it all.”

“Do the things you love. You’re young and you have a long time to go,” said Sanchez.