Alum Speaker Chrismary Gonzalez ’18: Following Her Passion

Gonzalez returned to campus on Tuesday, April 30, as the final presenter in the Alum Speaker Series, which highlights the efforts and accomplishments of Rivers graduates who are actively engaged in their communities and working to uplift social justice values. About two dozen students and members of the professional community gathered in a Revers classroom to hear about Gonzalez’s professional and personal journey from Rivers to her current position. 

Rivers was not always an easy or positive experience for Gonzalez, she told the group. Raised in Roxbury by parents who immigrated from the Dominican Republic, she said that upon entering Rivers in Grade 9, “It was my first time in a white institution.” She felt acutely aware of the differences between herself and her classmates, and found herself relegated to certain identifiers, such as “low income” or “Latinx,” that didn’t tell her whole story or allow her to be her full self. 

Difficult as it was, Rivers was also the place where Gonzalez discovered her passion for social justice. “Challenging conversations were not something I mastered at Rivers, but I started that process here,” she said. Experiences like attending conferences (she says NAIS’s Student Diversity Leadership Conference “changed my entire life”) and leading the club then known as RICA (Rivers Integrated Cultural Awareness) helped Gonzalez find her voice. 

It wasn’t until she attended college at Northeastern University that she “learned the language” necessary for difficult conversations. Majoring in criminal justice and political science, she wasn’t sure where her professional path would lead, but, she said, “I just knew I liked to argue.” Through Northeastern’s co-op system, she landed an internship at BPS’s Office of Equity in January 2020—just in time to see schools shut down by the pandemic. It was a challenging moment to be working in equity at a large urban public school district, but the work clicked: “I knew it was for me,” she said. 

Today, she oversees co-op students and interns and manages intake for the office. That involves processing many of the many numerous incident reports that arrive in the office each year. The volume has increased steeply since COVID, she said, as students continue to grapple with the fallout from pandemic’s disruption.The work is challenging but worthwhile and never dull, said Gonzalez, who was recently promoted from manager to assistant director in the department.

Students and adults in the Revers classroom peppered Gonzalez with questions after her talk. They wanted to know about whether her experience as a child of immigrants informs her current work, whether she had had mentors along the way, how to measure the effectiveness of DEI initiatives, what could Rivers have done differently to support her, and—perhaps most relevant to this group of mostly seniors and juniors—what kind of advice she’d offer for students entering college now.

Gonzalez’s answer to the last question came without hesitation. “Join everything. Sign up for everything. Look for organizations that align with your interests, and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You need to find what you’re passionate about,” she said—seemingly sound advice from a woman who’s never shied away from making her own voice heard.