California Latino, Son of Mexican Immigrants, Accepted to All 8 Ivy League Schools
Most American high school seniors can only dream of getting an acceptance letter from one of the highly selective Ivy League universities, but Fernando Rojas has managed to get into all eight of the prestigious schools, ABC7 reported.
Rojas, the 17-year-old son of Mexican immigrants, can now take his pick between Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. He was also accepted by Stanford; the University of California, Irvine; and California State University, Fullerton, the station noted.
"I'm just trying to let it all soak in, trying to experience it all, just one day at a time," the co-valedictorian and national speech-and-debate champion said.
His "stellar academic performance" -- Rojas' grade-point average is above 4.8 -- has much to do with his upbringing, he told NBC Los Angeles. The teenager credits the inspiration he received from his seamstress mother and machine-operator father for his work ethic; neither of his parents made it beyond elementary school, the affiliate pointed out.
"They still took the time to instill in us these morals and these values of having to work hard and having to be resilient," Rojas said of his parents, "Knowing that I have these opportunities that my parents didn't have and knowing I have to appreciate that, that's what got me through the struggles, the obstacles and stuff," he added.
The student, who attends Fullerton Union High School in Orange County, California, said he has managed to narrow down his choices to Yale and Harvard, ABC7 noted. And despite all the attention over his feat, he remains perfectly humble.
"It's a blessing, honestly, and like I've been given a lot of support from my family from my teachers and stuff," he said. "They're reassuring me, 'Wherever you're going to end up, you're going to end up in good hands.'"
Fullerton Union High's speech-and-debate coach, Sal Tinajero, meanwhile, noted that the Ivy League schools had made the right choice when they offered his mentee a spot.
"It couldn't have happened to a nicer person and a harder working student," Tinajero said. "I am so proud of him because he's an inspiration to other students."
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