If you want to find the roots to Merced native Michelle Esquivel’s success in education, you don’t have to go far.
You do have to dig deep.
The Merced College and Stanislaus State graduate—and longtime physical education teacher with the Planada Elementary School District—is truly rooted to this place.
Esquivel’s destiny has always had a ball attached to it. She grew up a sports fanatic, running roughshod on diamonds throughout the area. After graduating from Merced High, Esquivel sprinted the 1.6 miles to Merced College for the sole purpose of continuing her softball career.
When she got a chance to play ball—and finish her bachelor’s degree—just up Highway 99 at Stan State, she accepted the challenge with enthusiasm.
And when it came time to take a job, Esquivel came to Planada, home to teammates and friends she’d made along the way. She’s been teaching kids how to play ball and strengthen their bodies for 30 years.
“I’m doing something I absolutely love,” Esquivel said. “It’s my heart. It’s in my blood.”
Esquivel was among the first to jump into action when Planada flooded in January. Desperate to help, she filled and delivered sandbags, and eventually showed up at the Planada Sacred Heart Catholic Church to start giving out supplies in the days after the storm.
“It was heartbreaking, and I felt helpless,” she said. “I was telling my teachers three days in, ‘Hey, who wants to go out and see our students at the shelter at the fairgrounds?’”
They also visited families in temporary housing at the Felix Torres Migrant Center. Through a school secretary, they heard the kids saying, “I told you they would come!”
Esquivel’s voice breaks here, remembering reading Facebook and watching the news, knowing her students were in harm’s way.
“It makes me emotional because I’ve been at PESD for so long, it feels like I was born into that community,” she said. “I feel like I’m helping raise those kids with their parents. They look to you as their leader.
“Those poor kids. First COVID, now this. I felt so helpless not being able to see them. But in the end, seeing how happy they were to be back at school was amazing. It’s their normality, and they needed it.”
Jumping in to help was easy. Esquivel’s commitment to Planada is resolute, and the decision to devote herself to this area started at Merced College.
“I didn’t want to leave Merced after high school,” Esquivel said. “I’d been playing softball since I was 8. If I had to go to school to play, Merced College was just fine for me.”
The school was close, safe and affordable. The staff was supportive. Under original coach Sheryl Wiens in 1985 and 1986, Esquivel played every position except first base and catcher. She tallied the highest batting average on the team one season. And she pitched the only no-hitter of her career against Fresno City College.
It was during her second year that Esquivel decided to teach physical education. A teammate told her she was pursuing a degree in PE, and the lightbulb went off.
Esquivel was also thinking of her parents—mother Yolanda Hermosillo, who worked 30 years for Farmers Insurance, and father Robert Hermosillo, who toiled just as long for the City of Atwater. Their work ethic was passed on to Esquivel, as well as to her sister, now a biology teacher, and her two brothers, who both work in corrections.
At Stanislaus State, Esquivel had teammates from all over the state. Without really leaving her backyard, she traveled vicariously and made friends who had different experiences than hers.
Esquivel became the first in her family to earn a college degree when she got her B.A. in Health & Physical Education/Fitness in 1991. She immediately began her teaching credential program through Stan State, close to home at Atwater High. Even there, softball remained in the picture; her master teacher would become a future slow-pitch teammate.
Still, Esquivel was a bit discouraged when the principal there told her that “PE teachers were a dime a dozen.” She lucked out when she started subbing in the Planada district, meeting her longtime mentor, Ben Sanchez. Once he found out she was a PE major, he roped her into coaching track and field. That led to a long-term sub assignment.
It was a rough start, but Esquivel put her training as a college athlete into action. She never gave up.
“Then I felt, ‘Hey, I can do this,’” she said.
Before the year ended, Sanchez asked the district superintendent to hire Esquivel. Now she is the longest-serving employee in the district.
“I love this community,” Esquivel said. “I love my students. Here, the parents trust who you are and what you do.”
Esquivel becomes more entrenched in the college and community as the years pass. Suzanne McGhee, now Merced College’s softball coach, is a former student and her goddaughter. Esquivel gave pitching lessons to the daughter of her Merced College counselor. Her hair stylist and nail person are also former students.
“I always write in my students’ yearbooks, ‘Keep your head up, and keep reaching for the stars,’” Esquivel said. “So now, to be part of their lives in a different way, seeing them through their professions, it makes me so proud.”