God is calling you to follow your passion,” Sanchez said. “My wife told me, ‘No, you’re not going to quit. “I decided to try Clovis because it was smaller, I didn’t know anybody there and I didn’t want to be distracted,” said Sanchez, who started off slowly by taking just one class, a beginning drawing course with instructor Julia Scott.īut when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks later, he almost dropped out.
He enrolled at Clovis Community College in the fall of 2016. Like his wife, several of them suggested he take art classes. In the spring of 2015, he and a group of 7- to 12-year-olds began painting an outdoor mural that attracted the attention of parents, church leaders, and nearby residents. His thinking changed after volunteering with an after-school program at The Word Community Church in Fresno, where Sanchez worked in an art program for youth.
“I wanted to get into college, but I didn’t think I had the academic smarts to do it,” he said. For years, she encouraged him to go to school to hone his craft. One day while perusing through Sanchez’s stash of sketch books, his wife came across his artistic talent. That was nearly 15 years ago, and Sanchez resolved himself to a life of sobriety. Caught in a downward spiral, Sanchez was living out of his car before his fortunes began to change after a friend helped him land a job at as a delivery driver for a local pizza restaurant. “He’s someone who saw the value of being here and the value of an education.”īorn and raised in Fresno, Sanchez, 36, fell into the grip of drugs and alcohol before dropping out of school at age 16 and working a string of odd jobs with his father to help put food on the table. “Arturo is a student who you could tell right away is happy to learn, is willing to listen and is eager to try new things,” Dent said.
Everybody was super positive about the possibilities.”Īmong those professors was Stephen Dent, a studio arts instructor who also serves as chair of the Clovis Community College Humanities Department. “Not one professor ever said anything negative. “I got nothing but support while I was at Clovis,” Sanchez said. His scholastic achievements secured the Dean’s Medal of Distinction, and Sanchez is now set to continue his studies next fall at either Fresno State or Fresno Pacific University before embarking on a career as an art teacher. Thanks to a never ending stream of support from instructors, counselors and fellow students, Sanchez graduated in May with an associate degree in two-dimensional art, an Associate Degree for Transfer in studio arts, and an associate degree in liberal studies – all while maintaining a grade point average of 3.95. At least not until the one-time high school dropout enrolled at Clovis Community College. Arturo Sanchez never saw himself as college material.
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