There are some students and teachers within the UPA community who combat the long commute to and from school every day. The constant conflict of having to commute far for a job or for one’s education goes hand-in-hand with the commuter’s constant feeling of leading a double life; their co-workers or their friends in one city and their family and other friends in the city they reside in.
U.S. History and World Geography teacher Adam Zentner travels daily from Hayward, roughly thirty to forty miles away from UPA. Zentner has about an hour to an hour and fifteen minute long commute everyday and he considers anything under an hour a “good day.” The school that Zentner worked at prior to UPA was only a fifteen minute commute.
“I was able to get home quicker and do more stuff around the house,” Zentner said. “It’s worth it coming here [to UPA] but it would be better to live close.”
Zentner fell in love with UPA’s core values and the community itself, convincing him to continue to make the long drive.
The drive to work and back home is a daily two hour drive, which adds up to around ten hours weekly which Zentner spends in the car. Zentner does, however, enjoy that his longer drives allow him some time to unwind after a day of work.
“I listen to podcasts, listen to music, so it’s a decompress time,” Zentner said.
Eighth-grade science teacher Alison Gee travels to UPA from Santa Cruz. Gee has a daily commute of about 45 minutes from her house everyday. However, since her partner lives in San Jose, she stays at his house whenever she can.
“I commute from Santa Cruz two or three days a week and I commute from his two or three days a week,” Gee said.
Although her regular drive is usually around 45 minutes, Gee states that her drive can quickly end up taking an hour to an hour and a half if there is an accident on highway 17. Gee sets multiple alarms to ensure that she wakes up on time. Gee has had to train herself to have to get out of bed because she gets very anxious that she will oversleep and ends up just snoozing her alarms. If it is raining, Gee must leave her house earlier, which means her morning routine—which usually includes taking a shower, making a cup of tea, and preparing all of her work—is cut short.
During her drives to and from school Gee tries to put herself into a more positive mindset.
“[Those are the] kinds of things that put you in a really good mood or a positive frame of mind. It’s a good way to meet the day,” Gee said.
To unwind during her drives, Gee usually listens to songs from her choir.
“The person who runs the choir does a really good job of recording all the different parts and you can play just the part you’re singing, or the whole thing,” Gee said.
Gee also enjoys listening to books on tape. Currently Gee is reading a self-help book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book talks about tiny habits that can end up having a big impact on your life, and teaches one how to accomplish more by focusing on less.
Gee used to listen to the news on the radio but she has noticed she arrives in a better mood when she listens to her music rather than the news.
Senior Aimee Salazar lives in Gilroy and has traveled for school since she was young. Before transferring to UPA, Salazar attended Milpitas High School and Thomas Russell Middle School.
Salazar’s parents liked how much more academically challenging schools like UPA were than schools in Gilroy. Since Salazar has attended two high schools, Milpitas High School for her freshman and sophomore years of high school and UPA for her junior and senior years, she has had two different commutes.
“For Milpitas, the drive was about an hour each way, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the traffic,” Salazar said. “Coming [to UPA] on a really good day it’s thirty minutes but on the worst day it’s anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.”
Salazar has noticed that she is usually anxious about being late to important events and school because of how far away she lives from both school and her friends.
“I spend so much time in the car that it takes time out of obvious things like studies,” Salazar said, “I try to study in the morning, but I get car sick really easily.”
Salazar has noticed a positive to spending so much time traveling by car. Though it is maybe not an apparent observation, spending quality time with family is what Salazar has been able to do,
“I’ve bonded a lot with my parents while they’re just talking to me [in the car],” Salazar said.
The feeling of never quite being able to spend enough time with people in either city is another con commuters would notice.
“I just don’t see [friends] as often as I’d like,” Gee said.
“The extra time that would be for socializing, I’m spending it in the car.”
