Meet our Instructors
Faculty provides instruction inside San Benito County Jail, Santa Clara Main Jail, and Elmwood Correctional Facility. Their dedication and commitment to teaching inside these facilities give an opportunity for the population to receive high school/GED preparation and a post-secondary education while in custody.
Nick Fortino, Ph.D.
Psychology Instructor
I teach psychology at Elmwood and San Benito County Jail. I think psychology is fascinating, and it's a subject matter that is relevant to everyone. Wherever people are, psychology is. To have an understanding of psychology is a major advantage in life. Most importantly, the more we understand about psychology, the more we can help improve the mental/emotional well-being of ourselves and others.
From the moment I began back in 2016, I discovered that in this setting are some of the most perseverant individuals in all of society. And the street-smarts that so many incarcerated individuals have translates very well to a psychology class. Plus, it's downright fun. It's amazing how much we laugh in a setting that would depress most people.
One advice I would give to students is to tap all the resources available to you. Develop personal relationships with your professors. And when the big picture seems daunting, zoom in on the small tasks that make it manageable. When the small tasks seem mundane, zoom out to see the big picture that gives those tasks meaning.
Some fun facts about me is that I'm an elite dad. Love my wifey. Watching or playing sports are my favorite hobbies. Put on some RnB music and I'll quickly slip into a golden state of mind. And I'm a Gilroy boy, born and raised.
Candace Wilson
HSE/GED Instructor
Candance teaches ENGL 756: High School Equivalency/GED Preparation at San Benito County Jail.
Jessica Hooper
English Instructor
Jessica Hooper has been teaching for Gavilan College for over 20 years, on the main campus and most recently at Elmwood Correctional Facility. Her courses include English Composition, reading, and literature as well as mindfulness. She has degrees and certificates from various universities. Most recently, she earned a certificate in Trauma Response and Crisis Intervention from Rutgers University. Jessica is currently working on an Engaged Mindfulness certificate from the Prison Dharma Network.
Jessica shares her teaching philosophy:
"You have a source inside you, a cool spring that sometimes stops flowing, frozen
or clogged with silt. A voice says, "Consider the situation more deeply, my friend."...
If your heart feels numb and metallic, walk out into the sun, or whatever
they mystery is that makes your inner spring well up..."
---Rumi
I believe education can be just what Rumi offers, a walk into the sun, a bright waking-up, that allows us to become bigger than we were and more completely ourselves, and further, that there's a distinct difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom in contrast is a whole knowing that is borne out of enthusiasm, longing, awareness, experience, and connection; it engages our minds, hearts, and bodies and informs and changes our lives and our environments. I teach to foster and to nurture wisdom--in my students and also in myself. Our times call for us to be loud, even outrageous, with our understanding, our perspective, our compassion and our dreams. Education can give us tools to develop voice and the courage to use that voice. I work to co-create classroom spaces that cultivate all of the above.
What has inspired me from an early age, and continues to inspire me, is the way stories connect, heal, and advance people. I believe the art of storytelling is something innate in all of us and that as individuals, we should have control over how those stories are told.
In addition to leading creative writing workshops locally, I have worked in non-profit organizations dedicated to military veterans in crisis. I am also an army veteran. As a young adult, I have traveled to some of the farthest reaches of the world, spoken to some of its most torn people and the one thing I can say is that their stories are excellent. Sometimes heartbreaking, but excellent. They deserve to be heard, and they deserve to be listened to. These times require us to pay better attention. Not because our ability to agree or disagree (or both) with all the political goings on is necessary to form an opinion (we often do so knowing very little about the issues) but because to tell the stories with a sense of honesty and wisdom we need to know what is actually happening.
Our best storytelling is not something that just happens. We must exercise that muscle and add new exercises to improve. To that end, I am very happy to be teaching a broad range of English courses here at Gavilan College with some of the brightest minds in the area.