Every governing board night has its constants: the clock, the gavel, and a sea of green union shirts, with Anel Gonzalez at the helm. With her iPad resting on her lap, she attentively listens. When the moment arrives for her union constituent report, she approaches the lectern. She is steady, measured through the hard topics because it’s not just her voice she carries — it’s more than 300 voices.
Anel Gonzalez has dedicated 22 years of her career to Palomar College, where she has held various positions, including academic department assistant and foster youth liaison. In her current role, she represents classified employees as president of the Council of Classified Employees (CCE).
Her role with CCE is no surprise; her dedication can be traced back to her youth.
Gonzalez was born in Cuernavaca, Mexico, known as the City of Eternal Spring. Gonzalez’s mother was a professor while her father was a business owner and taxi driver. In the 1980s, Mexico faced an economic crisis, and Gonzalez’s parents chose to leave in search of better opportunities.
“That sacrifice they made for us … I think myself and my siblings have never taken that lightly. We all came here for the American dream, and that was like when the American dream wasn’t killing us,” Gonzalez said. “My parents were full of hope, just that we would have a better life.”
After moving to California, Gonzalez and her family rented a trailer at the Rincon Indian Reservation. Gonzalez describes her upbringing as humble and calls herself a product of public education.
Her father left school as a child to work, and her mother later helped him learn to read and write, while promoting lifelong learning for Gonzalez and her siblings.
“He didn’t have the privilege of education, but he always knew that it was, like, that was a key and I still believe that education is a key out of poverty,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez attended the University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), where she began as a premed student and later double majored in Spanish and English literature.
She planned to teach, and although she did not pursue that path, her love for literature remains strong.
“Something that really changed my life was ‘Rain of Gold’ by Victor Villaseñor,” Gonzalez said.
She wrote a letter to Villaseñor, and in return, he sent a signed hardcover — an exchange she still cherishes dearly.
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Gonzalez worked at the nonprofit organization Interfaith Community Services, where she handled grant writing. She dedicated many years before a collaboration with Palomar led her to the college in 2002.
“I feel very blessed and lucky to have been here for 22 years, and it is a great milestone to just be here and to have worked with so many students and so many great colleagues,” Gonzalez said.
Since 2018, Anel Gonzalez has been the president of CCE, a union that advocates for and amplifies the voices of the noninstructional staff who keep college operations running at Palomar.
Gonzalez got involved with the union when the district was considering reducing benefits for families and cutting pay, which concerned her as she had a young family. In 2024, Gonzalez
became full-time president, marking a significant achievement for the union.
“I found myself in the negotiations team as a note taker. So I started very slowly, getting into the union business and looking behind the curtain,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez’s colleagues say she is a person who truly cares.
“She’s so smart, and she’s so bold, and she cares about Palomar College. She cares about her coworkers. She cares about her family,” said Jena Kruhmin, CCE vice president of membership.
The union presidency comes with challenges. At board meetings, Gonzalez speaks up for herself and the classified staff, but they frequently face pushback from the Governing Board and the district, like the recent cost-of-living adjustment dispute.
“Compromise is a lot of the stuff that we do, and it’s not easy. I can totally see why presidents of the country age super fast in the four years,” Gonzalez said. “There are times where it’s just very hard to continue. ‘Why do I even do this?’ ‘Why do I even care?’ Stuff like that. But, I wake up the next day and I’m like ‘Okay, I’m gonna lick my wounds.’ And you live to fight another day, you know?”
When it comes to her life outside of Palomar, Gonzalez considers her children to be her
biggest achievement.
“I do live my life for my kids, you know, to be a good example. First, it was for my brothers, because I was the oldest and then it was just for my kids. I think my greatest milestone is to have kids that are pretty amazing, like the people that I want to be around,” Gonzalez said. “My kids really helped me center around what kind of person I want to be.”
Gonzalez is currently writing a book on her family history and taking guitar classes at Palomar.
“It really gives me some Zen,” Gonzalez said. “I’m looking forward to just continuing. Despite the hard times, we have a lot of good solidarity happening. So, I’m looking forward to our union being stronger.”