The heart of the Center for Civic Engagement, Public Purpose Program Director Alan Wesson Suárez has been a part of the LWHS community for 10 years. He facilitates volunteer events for students and partnerships with non-profit organizations.
Wesson Suárez grew up in a small suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana through high school, and though he has lived away from there longer than he lived there, he still considers it to be one of his homes. Wesson Suárez attended his local high school until Hurricane Katrina hit and he transferred to Phillips Academy — Andover, a boarding school in Massachusetts, for 11th grade. Wesson Suárez found his boarding school experience to be a more nurturing space than his previous school was. Wesson Suárez said, “I went from being the only Black kid in my class almost, to there being lots of other people of color.”
Wesson Suárez describes his high school schedule as similar to LWHS. Occupied with school work and extracurriculars, he didn’t have as much time to explore New Orleans. Wesson Suárez said, “New Orleans is an interesting place. I didn’t really realize it until I left but there’s a lot of good food, good music, an
photo by Odin Marin
d a good laid-back vibe. Some people go there and never leave, they go there to visit and then just stay. It’s a unique place.”
His parents still live in the house Wesson Suárez grew up in — and his sister is not too far away in Texas. Whenever he goes back home, Wesson Suárez visits a local seafood restaurant, Acme Oyster House, and frequents Café Du Monde for their delicious beignets.
Wesson Suárez graduated from Yale University in 2007 where he majored in American Studies. During college, Wesson Suárez had on campus computer tech job as well as volunteered at numerous churches including the Agape Church for the Homeless. He then went on to work for a non-profit organization that conducted literacy enrichment for youth.
Out of college, looking for a job, and wanting to move to San Francisco, Wesson Suárez originally applied to the admissions associate position but because of his interest and history in community service, he volunteering for non-profits and faith based organizations was hired to be the service-learning coordinator.
Wesson Suárez especially enjoys his casual interactions with students and his advisees at LWHS which he is glad to have more of as COVID-19 eases. He said, “Just being able to chat with them about life and kind of hang out, I like those informal moments more than anything.” A fun fact you may find out while talking to Wesson Suárez is that he is lactose tolerant — he doesn’t like ice cream but will eat milk-derived substances such as cheese, yogurt and even gelato. You may also learn about his dog, Papa, a corgi poodle mix of some sort. Wesson Suárez notes, “I wish it had more poodle, it sheds like no other.”
Outside of work, Wesson Suárez enjoys watching sports as well as new movies. He also likes reading about sports, the news, as well as novels — though he hasn’t been reading as many recently. Wesson Suárez said, “I like to blame it on my Kindle being broken, and I’m getting ready to move so I don’t want to buy a bunch of books.”
During the summertime the past few years during COVID-19, Wesson Suárez looked for ways to get outside whether that be yard work or exploring new parts of California, driving up and down the coast. This past summer he was able to visit family in New Orleans and visit his go-to spots.
Wesson Suárez and his wife are getting ready to move close to the capital of Colombia where they will be for at least the next 6 months and possibly longer. With this change, they will be closer to family and may even attend a friend’s summer wedding in Italy and explore Europe for a couple of weeks. While this initially felt like a crazy idea, over the pandemic, Wesson Suárez realized, “Why put off the things you want to do when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.”
Wesson Suárez will dearly miss working for Christine Godinez, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, as well as the community of students. Wesson Suárez said, “I like working with young people, I find young people to be more interesting than adults, they ask better questions, they think about things that are more insightful sometimes, super goofy too which is also maybe something I like — that they take themselves a little less seriously.”
Wesson Suárez said, “2023 is kind of up in the air, I still don’t know exactly where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing.
