ROJAS, FERNANDO, FUHS 2015 SCHOLARSHIP

 ROSE PALMISANO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rojas-664830-fullerton-yale.html

LEONARD ORTIZ, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

By LOU PONSI/ STAFF WRITER

FULLERTON – The first call came from Yale in February.

Within weeks, calls, e-mails and letters followed from Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton.

Every Ivy League school told Fullerton High senior Fernando Rojas, the youngest of four children to Mexican immigrant parents, they wanted him.

Stanford, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton did, too.

The 17-year-old is among a reported half-dozen or so accepted this year to the entire Ivy League.

“I didn’t think I would get into any,” Rojas said. “When I got all eight it was a blessing and a curse because I had to choose. I was excited and scared and everything at the same time.”

A national speech and debate champion with a 4.8 GPA, Rojas spent his winter break applying. If he applied to all eight Ivy League schools, he figure perhaps he might get into one.

He visited Princeton, Yale, Stanford and Harvard. Rojas went by himself, as the universities picked up the tab.

“I loved Princeton,” Rojas said. “It was a beautiful campus, but it felt very stressful. Stanford was too big and overwhelming.”

It came down to Harvard and Yale.

“The (incoming) Yale kids were a little bit more enthused to get started and get going,” Rojas said.

Yale costs $64,000 a year with room and board. He is responsible for $6,000 of that; Yale scholarships and some federal grant money cover the rest.

He had similar offers from other schools.

“We are looking forward to welcoming him and all his classmates,” said Tom Conroy, a Yale spokesman. “We hope they will bring a great deal of talent and curiosity to the school.”

Sal Tinajero, Rojas’ speech and debate coach at Fullerton, said Rojas is a tenacious self-starter who thrives on competition. During his junior year, Rojas became a National Speech & Debate Association National Champion in poetry reading.

“His biggest motivation was his parents to know that their hard work meant something,” Tinajero said.

Raul Rojas, 59, and his wife, Maria, 56, moved to Fullerton from Jalisco, Mexico, in the early 1980s. Both work full time: Raul as a machine operator, and Maria as a seamstress.

Neither is educated beyond the eighth grade.

With Fernando translating, Maria said she didn’t initially realize the magnitude of her son’s accomplishment, but once the media outlets started calling, she knew it was a big deal.

“I’m grateful that he took the work ethic and all of our struggles (and) that he repaid us through his accomplishments,” she said.

It started early: Rojas was on the honor role at Valencia Park Elementary and began taking honors classes at Parks Junior High School.

“I just felt like I was around really smart people and I said, ‘I have to step up my game,’” he said. “So I started studying more.”

His three older siblings, all Fullerton High School graduates, laid the groundwork, providing guidance.

“I went into high school knowing what I was supposed to do,” he said. “Once you have had three siblings going through the same high school, you sort of have the reputation by the time you get there. ... My brother had already taken AP classes, so I had to take AP classes.”

At Fullerton, Rojas spent three to four hours a day on homework and studying.

Free time is mostly hanging out with cousins, having movie nights and sleepovers. “Nothing too crazy,” he said.

As a freshman, Rojas joined Fullerton’s accomplished speech and debate team. As a junior, he had former teammates who were at top universities.

Why not him?

He’ll mostly take it easy during the summer before moving into the Yale dorms in late August. Classes begin Sept. 2.

Baylee Rogers, 17, Rojas’ friend and speech and debate teammate since freshman year, said Rojas will probably adjust to the Ivy League life just fine.

“He’s very dedicated,” said Rogers, who will attend UCLA. “Whenever he needs to get something done, he gets it done.”

He’s considering majoring in Latin American studies and perhaps a career as a lawyer or in international affairs.

Of course, his parents will feel the void when their youngest child is gone for months at a time.

“I feel sad but at the same time, it’s worth the couple of years that he’ll be gone, because it’s for the future,” his mom said.

Rojas plans on plugging in immediately with his new classmates.

“I knew I was going to leave my family here, so I knew I had to find another one right away,” he said.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3730 or lponsi@ocregister.com