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Mistake leads to turnaround for Parker grad

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Parker High School graduating senior Yoiser Mauleon spends an evening helping to coach Janesville children in a youth soccer program. Mauleon found himself in trouble as a sophmore but chose to turn his life around and give back to his community in the process.

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Parker 2011 Graduates

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JANESVILLE — Yoiser Mauleon was expelled at the start of 10th grade.

The expulsion had a profound effect. It changed Mauleon from a troubled youth to a young man who has impressed his teachers and who hopes to join them someday as a school counselor, helping others to not choose the path he chose.

Mauleon graduated Thursday with the rest of the Parker High School Class of 2011.

Mauleon’s grandmother raised him in his native Mexico until he was 11. That’s when his mother, who had emigrated to the United States in search of opportunity, sent for him.

He spoke only Spanish at first but learned fast. Even so, he was self-conscious.

“People stared at me a lot because I couldn’t speak English very well. I could only understand it,” he said.

A neighbor took a liking to the young Yoiser (pronounced JOY-sir). Even though they shared the same native tongue, the man asked the boy to speak only English, and he taught him his multiplication tables in English.

He doesn’t remember the man’s name, but he remembers his kindness and his help. Today, Mauleon speaks English very well.

Mauleon began stealing from his classmates late in his freshman year, he said.

He took iPods and anything else that he wanted or could exchange for money. It was easy, and he liked being able to have things he couldn’t afford.

He wasn’t into drugs, but he liked the money, he said.

He remembers the day a teacher caught him in someone else’s locker. It was Oct. 11, the day before his birthday.

The shame stays with him to this day. The worst part was facing his family.

“My mom felt really sad because, she said, she never taught me to steal,” he recalled.

Adults at school were disappointed in him as well.

“He said the hardest thing was that he had to tell his grandmother and see the disappointment in her face,” said Denise Kruser, Mauleon’s counselor at Parker.

He never wanted to see that again.

As is typical for expulsions, he was expelled for an extended period but given the opportunity to get back into school faster if he showed that he was working to turn his life around.

He was back in school the following January.

Assistant Principal Dan Keyser welcomed him back to Parker and asked him what is goals were.

“I said, ‘To graduate and not to make that mistake again,’” he said.

Mauleon still had to face his classmates and teachers.

“I wanted to show them that it’s just one mistake, and it’s not going to happen again, and I’m not the person they thought I was,” he said.

He resolved to become a leader and to show by example how to overcome challenges. He worked hard, got back into soccer and wrestling, and found time to play clarinet in a Mexican band.

“He’s a great kid,” Kruser said, and an example of how a youth can reverse his course.

“He’s one of those students that you feel blessed to have worked with, to see the changes, the maturing, to see someone ‘get it’,” Kruser said.

Kruser said Mauleon is a leader who has worked with younger students in the school’s Link Crew program and a scholar who has taken Advanced Placement classes.

He holds a grade-point average of 3.5, he said.

Mauleon was an anchor on the Parker soccer team’s defense. Now he coaches children in the sport. Kruser said her 4-year-old is one of Mauleon’s charges, and she sees how the children warm to him.

“He’s a natural,” she said.

Mauleon had talked of becoming a firefighter, but one day this year he told Kruser he’s been thinking of becoming a counselor.

“And I was like, ‘Oh, halleluiah!’ He’s going to be amazing. He’s one of those people that you just know that he’s going to be good at it.

“He’s such a gentle soul,” Kruser said. “When he sits down and has a conversation with anybody, he gives them 100 percent of his attention.”

Mauleon said he often has been the one his friends turn to when they are down or need advice. Friends have taken to calling him “doctor.”

Mauleon plans to attend UW-Rock County this fall and then transfer to UW-Whitewater to get a degree in school counseling.

To help him on his way, he received a scholarship from Janesville Multicultural Teacher Opportunities Scholarship Fund. The private fund pays most college expenses for students who agree to get education degrees and apply to work in the Janesville School District.

Mauleon said it’s hard work to rebuild trust among those around you, but it’s worth it. For him, the result of that hard work is pride in his accomplishments, including being the first in his family to graduate from high school.

“I am where I am right now because I worked hard at it,” he said.