By Zac Ladouceur, ’20
This week I had the pleasure of talking with one of the Parent and Family Programs Office Family Ambassadors, Fernando Sauceda. Fernando and I discussed his involvement with Emerson, his family, and some general thoughts and comments on his and his family’s experiences at Emerson thus far.
Fernando and his wife, Angela, are not only Family Ambassador’s for us but are parents to Steven Sauceda, a sophomore VMA major who is currently studying abroad in the Netherlands via our Kasteel Well program. The Saucedas recently just returned from visiting their son there this past week.
Fernando has been working as a financial consultant for the past 20 years in Southern California where he and his family live. The Saucedas first became interested in Emerson through an experience with an Emerson alumus who was working out of Los Angeles. The alumus was a radio host on the public broadcasting stations in LA, of which Fernando had been an active listener. He actually started listening to the alumnus by accident, the old show on that station that he listened to previously being replaced. When he found out that the host was an alumus, he reached out to him in hopes of answering questions for himself and Steven about Emerson. The alumus not only answered his questions, but became a close friend and a valuable connection for Steven going into his college experience. Just another example of the amazing Emerson Mafia at work!
Once Steven made the decision to attend Emerson, the Sauceda family attended a Summer Send-Off at the Los Angeles campus. There they met our very own Maureen Hurley, where they offered to help out with anything for which she needed volunteers. This was the start of the Saucedas’ involvement with the Office of Parent and Family Programs, having served as Family Ambassadors for almost two years. Fernando and his wife are greatly pleased with how their Emerson experience has shaped out to be so far with their son. Angela Sauceda’s family lives right outside of Boston in Quincy, so they were happy to have another reason to come out to the East coast to visit!
One of the things that Fernando and I discussed was what it is like to be a Family Ambassador and how to get involved with Emerson. The biggest piece of advice he wanted to give to other families was the importance of actively staying involved with their student and what goes on in and around campus. We are all familiar with the fact that once your student starts their freshman year, they may be more inclined to venture out into the world and become heavily involved with either their academics or extracurricular activities. This can sometimes result in your student not contacting home as often as expected or you are used to. However, maintaining that connection throughout your student’s time at Emerson can sometimes be the only way that you and other families receive some of the more sensitive or important information about the school and the community.
Fernando and I discussed the importance of communication between the school and the families of the students here, as there is sometimes a communication gap. For instance, it is hard to stay up-to-date on the ongoing construction of the Little Building if your student is the studying abroad or generally uninterested in the project. Parent and Family Programs strives to bridge that gap through various forms of communication. Looking forward, we will work towards higher involvement from the families of our students in and out of Emerson. We hope that getting to know a current Family Ambassador will possibly inspire you or your family to get involved with either the Office of Family Programs or Emerson as a whole!
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