Emmanuel Padilla
Although Emmanuel Padilla spent his early childhood in an almost exclusively Spanish-speaking community in the Mission district, he grew up in San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood. The inclusive, highly diverse community shaped his values and inspired him to work in education and support underrepresented students.
Emmanuel attended E.R. Taylor Elementary School (a SCORES site today) as an ESL student; MLK Middle School; Thurgood Marshall High School; UC Davis, majoring in Community and Regional Development; and USF, earning a master’s degree in organizational leadership. His academic journey was accelerated through the opportunities he seized along the way, including his participation in the University of California's Early Academic Outreach Program and the U.S. Department of Education's McNair Scholars Program.
Emmanuel has held multiple professional roles in education and outreach, including working as a Teach for America teacher and fellow, a college access and internship counselor for underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged students through UCSF, and an academic outreach coordinator. Today he serves as the inaugural director of the Latinx Student Center at San Francisco State University.
We talked to him about his earliest years, his professional path, and the power and strength of community.
You spent your youngest years in the Mission in San Francisco but grew up in the Portola neighborhood. How do you remember your community?
As kids, we were exposed to all kinds of people and situations. We were always outside playing – football, baseball, basketball, tag, hide and seek, bike riding. Lots of football games outside my Grandma’s house. We saw all the kids playing, but we also saw a lot of the crime we knew was around us. We knew where not to go, what color to wear, what color not to wear, where you could take your bike, and where you should parak your bike.
And because of all that, it was a very inclusive community. We would go to the park and see so much diversity. The gang members would be in one area, people playing sports in another. There were people playing dice and people doing tai chi, kids and babies everywhere. Everyone respected each other and felt safe there. You just had to understand your surroundings. It was all people of color though. We didn’t see any white people unless we went to the Avenues or Giants games. That was our exposure to different cultures that weren’t people of color.
Many of us have defining moments or situations that help shape our paths. What were yours?
I grew up too fast. My mom suffered from clinical depression and my dad wasn’t home much. When I was eight, I knew how to make my breakfast and lunch. I’d walk to school and had my whole route planned out. Because of the craziness at home, school became a sanctuary for me and where I had the most fun.
A lot of my relatives were in gangs or in that type of environment. But I would take a step back, and reflect on that reality. We had a lot of struggles at home, and I didn’t want to make my mom sadder than she already was. I didn’t want my younger brother and sister to see that much sadness. I had the insight that I didn’t want that life. In a way, being exposed to all that craziness was good for me because it allowed me to analyze the situation and take control of what I could.
It wasn’t expected that I would go to college, and it would have been easier not to. But I decided to push myself. The plan was to go to San Jose State, UC Santa Cruz, or UC Davis. I remember my seventh-grade teacher saw me when I was working at Old Navy my senior year and told me, “You got into a UC, so you have to go to a UC!” And telling me that changed my life. When I asked my co-workers where I should go, one said, “They let you into UC Davis?” So I knew I had to do it. I had to disrupt the normal. My friends weren’t going to college, but I wanted options.
You don’t have to change or assimilate to go to college. You can still be yourself. I learned that, in part, from my baseball coach from tenth grade. He was the first adult male I knew who was a positive role model. I remember this game we were playing in West Sunset. There were people in the outfield playing soccer, and he went up to them to explain we had a game. And they moved! For me, I thought, this is crazy! But they didn’t argue. He asked them to move and they did. It was the first time I saw someone model what it is to be strong and confident without needing to assimilate to be accepted.
After attending UC Davis, you became a teacher yourself. What did you learn in the process?
I’ll give one example among many. I taught English at Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida, working with underrepresented students. The more time I spent teaching, the more my students taught me – about words, music, and confidence in your identity. In your voice and your words, you hold so much power, especially in the way they can be open to interpretation. Your voice carries your actions, confidence, and presence.
My teaching voice allowed for noticing things too. I noticed that Miami Northwestern didn’t have a soccer team. So I created one. Northwestern was and still is a football and track school. Shoutout to Olympian Tee Tee Terry and Rams wide receiver Tutu Atwell, both of whom I taught. But what about the students who wanted to play soccer, or to simply be part of something. I noticed they needed noticing, and so we started a team together. Their skill levels varied, so I was most intentional in developing their confidence. One thing I’ve learned is that the utmost confidence is developed through mistakes. Take a risk, make that pass, miss that shot, but remember to involve your teammates.
“One thing I’ve learned is that the utmost confidence is developed through mistakes. Take a risk, make that pass, miss that shot, but remember to involve your teammates.”
Now you’re the director of the Latinx Student Center at San Francisco State University. How did that happen?
I saw an opportunity. Ethnic Studies was created at SF State but they'd never had a LatinX Student Center. So I started one as the inaugural director. I knew the importance of having a city native in the role. I had no connection to SF State, but I knew how big the LatinX community is in San Francisco. This was part of a leadership opportunity I wanted to be part of. The idea is to allow students to develop their identity and to reinforce that process as an important experience. This is not their job training program, and if they look at it as a job training program that you get in and get out of, they’ll still be trying to find themselves as they get older. You can find yourself now. This is your time and you can be yourself. As director, I’m a person for them and I always try to get to know them better and build a rapport established on trust. And then they open up.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I’m always involved in sports, but I also like to take walks. Walking is great – you can get lost in it, just like you can with running. I also like reading, especially about sports. I’ve read all of sportswriter Jeff Pearlman’s books. He’s so good at telling a story. And then there’s SF Chronicle baseball writer John Shea and his bio on the greatest ever, Willie Mays.
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