Welcome to the Office UPA’s front desk recieves a fresh face ARTICLE AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MARIAH MYERS • DESIGN BY SANA PURDHANI
A
njelica Frausto has a passion for sports, students and her family as the new front office and attendance clerk starting in the 2021-2022 school year. Sports have had a major impact on her life. “I love sports, such as football, fantasy football, basketball and hockey,” Frausto said. “I play in two fantasy football leagues every year, went into the championships and won.” Frausto’s hobby of fantasy football came from her family and friends who helped her decide which team to be drafted into and participate in. Fantasy Football, in short, is a game in which participants create their own team of players from real players in the National Football League (NFL). “I started a brand new league with some friends, and they invited me two hours before the draft even started,” she said. Frausto has a strategic way of planning who plays during her games to help her win this year. “I do a lot of research and stay on top of injuries of certain players,” Frausto said. “Injuries are the best way to figure out who you want to play during the game.” Frausto does not just spend her free time watching sports; she also has a love for plants. With an interest in plants, she uses her passion to create a business of her own aside from her work at UPA. “I have a plant hussle on the side called ‘Gardening Succs,’” Frausto said. “I sell plants, self-painted pots and little arrangements.’’
“Working in education has just been easy for me, and when I started working, it was kind of natural” - Anjelica Frausto Frausto started her business through Instagram, and over time, she started doing pop-up shops, selling her plants to the public. She would participate at pop-up events hosted by other small businesses at public parks or at someone’s home. She wants her business to represent who she is, so she designed everything herself, including the logo. She named her business “Gardening Succs” with two c’s for a play on words because she sells succulents and succulent arrangements. “I designed the logos on Canva and printed everything out on sticker paper, putting QR codes on them so people could access my account,” Frausto said.
Having been surrounded by plants from her family and friends, Frausto has always wanted to be a “plant person.” The birth of her son helped her to realize she wanted to pursue her personal plant business when she was planning out her son’s nursery room. “I had always loved the cactus aesthetic when my friends first started gifting them to me for my son’s nursery room,” Frausto said. “I filled everything with cacti, so finally I was thinking to myself that I could make a business out of this.” In college, Frausto studied Business at Evergreen Valley College but went in another direction because of her parents, who worked in education. Frausto’s father is a retired teacher and a principal, and her mother worked as a truancy officer. With her family being such a strong influence in her life, she decided to follow in their footsteps which is where she is today. “Working in education has just been easy for me, and when I started working, it was kind of natural,” she said. Frausto started working at UPA on Jan. 21 and former front office and attendance clerk Dorene McClung taught Frausto the ins and outs of working at the front desk. “I was with Mrs. McClung for one day on the job and after that, I just went straight into the position, and it went smoothly,” Frausto said. Since her first day of work, Frausto has come to like the students and staff at UPA, and thinks she will be staying at UPA. “Most of the charter schools I worked at worked with low income students,” Frausto said. “I have worked with charter schools for a very long time. The students here are so well- motivated, well-behaved, very thoughtful and overall so talented too.” Frausto’s hobbies make up who she is inside and outside of her job here at UPA and now knowing this about her will help people get to know her at school. “I am very dedicated to this work and a very big people person which really describes who I am,” Frausto said.
Anjelica Frausto stands behind her desk in the front office waving during seminar on April 7. FEATURES | 26
