Kourtney Delmanowski’s life changed dramatically in a matter of months.  She got married, moved away from her family in Oakdale, got a new teaching position, and bought her first home.  And her dream of living in the same community where she works came true at Tesoro Viejo.

“This is a dream for me,” Kourtney says.  “These kids are my world, and I want to love and know them as kids outside of the classroom.”

She will begin teaching first grade at Hillside School in Tesoro Viejo’s Hillside Village this fall.  She envisions being a role model to children in the classroom and in the community.

Kourtney’s story of discovering Tesoro Viejo is a bit of a fateful one.  She taught for three years in Empire, a small town in the greater Modesto area.  A native of Oakdale, she lived with her grandparents on a ranch and this is her first big move away from family.

She and her husband had decided to rent a house in Merced as their first home to split the commute – she would commute an hour north and he would commute an hour south to his job at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Fresno.

Before their wedding, the plan fell through.  During a visit to friends in Madera County, they discovered Tesoro Viejo.

“This is where we should be!” she says, recounting their first visit to Tesoro Viejo.

After touring the model homes and realizing Tesoro Viejo was where they were meant to be, she looked up an online recruiting tool for education jobs.  Fate would interfere once more when she discovered that there was one teaching position at Hillside School right in the heart of the community, and she was just in time to apply!

She interviewed and got the job.  She plans on walking to her teaching job from their new home in the Altura by McCaffrey Homes neighborhood and is excited to move into their Katelyn home in late August.

She is most excited about the large kitchen with the farmhouse apron sink.  And the Hobby Room downstairs is perfect for her grandparents when they visit, so they don’t have to worry about stairs – something that was a must for her.

Residents at Tesoro Viejo have already welcomed her.  Even before moving in, she’s been invited to go on a run and hike with other residents on the trails.  She shares that her new next-door neighbor even offered for them to store things in his garage, as they prepare for move-in.

“I’m a people person; I’m refueled by people,” she says about why the sense of community is so important to her.

The various opportunities to enjoy the outdoors is a huge bonus.  Both her and her husband enjoy the outdoors and look forward to hiking the trails with their Golden Doodle named “Doodle.”

Kourtney can already envision raising children at Tesoro Viejo – visions of her spending time with her future children at the Ranch House, the resort-style clubhouse and recreation center, fill her head.

For now, Kourtney is excited to embark on her new career and new life at Tesoro Viejo where she fulfills a dream of living in the same community where she works.

“I want to know these kids not just as students, but as members of the community,” she says.