At Diamond Learning Center, the perfect person is anyone who walks through the doors
If it’s true that nobody’s perfect, somebody forgot to tell the students at Diamond Learning Center. To them, everyone who walks through the doors is perfect.
The feeling is reciprocal. To Jami Hamel De La Cerda, her staff and guests — like the Fresno State football players and dance team members who visited in September for the “Red Wave Dance Party” — the nearly 200 students at Diamond Learning Center are perfect, too.
“I look at it as a perception of perfection,” said Hamel De La Cerda, the founder and president of Diamond Learning Center. “Because, to me, every one of these people who steps through this building is perfect. But if you look at society, the perfect person is the football player. So it truly is a perception of what is perfection to you.”
Diamond Learning Center serves adult learners with intellectual disabilities who range in age from 18 to 67. Located in Clovis, the center moved to a 60,000-square-foot building this summer – nearly triple the size of its previous location – in an effort to better serve its students and the special needs community.
Students are offered full-time programming, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Diamond Learning Center also hires some of its own students among its 67 employees.
“I wanted to create a program where these students have the same rights as the rest of us, so they could go to school in an adult learning environment during the day and, on the same day, if they want to develop job skills or work, they can.”
A lasting bond
Diamond Learning Center has a relationship with Fresno State athletics that goes back years. A photo hangs at the center commemorating the day in 2013 when then Fresno State standouts (and future NFL stars) Davante Adams and Derek Carr spent hours interacting with students.
Countless other Fresno State student-athletes have made similar visits since, and each time they walk through the doors, they receive a heroes’ welcome.
“They’re so excited,” Hamel De La Cerda said. “Anybody that walks in here is a rock star, especially if you’ve got a Fresno State jersey on. It’s beautiful.”
That same excitement filled the room in July, when the center hosted a press conference announcing Hamel De La Cerda’s $1 million donation to Fresno State football — the largest single gift from a woman in Fresno State athletics history
“There’s really no nicer gift than to see someone smile and know that you’re helping them in the long run,” she said.
The gift was the inaugural donation for the new Valley Co-op, a giving model designed to help coaches invest in the recruitment, development and retention of student-athletes with gifts large or small.
“Just like a Valley co-op, every size of crop, harvest or farm matters,” said Garrett Klassy, Fresno State’s director of athletics. “This fund isn’t just for major gifts, it’s about everyone doing their part, big or small, to keep Fresno State competitive. When the Red Wave rallies together, we can grow something powerful.”
Hamel De La Cerda moved from Vancouver, Canada to attend Fresno State as a student in 1985. She was a member of the highly competitive club bowling team. Her experience on that team, competing with few resources, compelled her to give back to Fresno State students today.
In addition to her history of giving to the Bulldog Foundation, she has also supported the bowling team. She recalled how she used to help earn money for her bowling club as a student.
“I worked at the recreation center, the bowling alley and I cleaned Fresno State red seats to make money for our club,” Hamel De La Cerda said.
Four decades later, Hamel De La Cerda owns season tickets for 22 of those red seats at Valley Children’s Stadium, as well as a suite where she regularly invites her family, students and staff to attend Bulldogs football games.
Family at the heart of the mission
Beyond athletics and philanthropy, Hamel De La Cerda’s inspiration is deeply personal – her three sons. Oldest son Isaiah, 22, works at the center as a teacher and transporter for the students.
Elijah, who has Down syndrome, promoted his new on-site sandwich shop, E’s Diamond Deli, by giving away free box lunches to everyone in attendance at the gift press conference.
And 19-year-old Samuel is a student at Clovis Community College with plans to transfer to Fresno State next year to study sociology. He’s one minute older and about five inches taller than his twin brother, Elijah.
From the moment Samuel was born, he has seen the challenges and hardships many of these students, including his twin brother, face in their day-to-day lives. But it rarely shows from their attitude and demeanor.
“It’s just a special place. You can walk in having a bad day, but the second you get here, they act like you’re a celebrity,” Samuel said.
The twins were born just four months after Hamel De La Cerda founded Diamond Learning Center in September 2005. She already had about a decade of experience working in special education before opening the center to bring to life her vision of LIFE (“Learning is for Everyone”).
“Mark Twain said, ‘The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why,’” Hamel De La Cerda said, “and that’s really true because I know when the Lord blessed me with twins, and they came after I already had the Diamond Learning Center, it just emphasized why I was born. It was me doing what I’m doing.”
Her words reflect the larger spirit of Diamond Learning Center — a place built on acceptance, dignity and joy.
Nobody is perfect. But at Diamond Learning Center, everyone is made to feel like they are.
‘Red Wave Dance Party’
The energy was electric at the Diamond Learning Center’s event venue on Sept. 25. Red and blue stage lights, strobes and Bulldog signage set the scene while songs like “Who Let the Dogs Out,” “Macarena” and “Gasolina” rocked the dance floor. The center’s students cheered and blitzed toward the entryway as Fresno State football players and dance team members entered the dance floor, generously passing out high-fives, fist bumps and hugs before dancing alongside the students.
Vicki Kaur said she loves coming to Diamond Learning Center, where she has been a student since it opened in 2005. She was chosen to welcome the football players because she’s such a big fan.
“You feel the energy and positivity from all the people here,” said sophomore running back Brandon Ramirez. “The Diamond Learning Center, I feel like these are our biggest fans. I just hope they got to see how we are as people outside of football, and I just hope they had a good time as well.”
Written by Eddie Hughes (‘05); Photos by Cary Edmondson (’02) and Ally Barriga (student)
