Immigrants of the Year: Cesar and Edgar Garcia Lopez, Ivy League College Students
Photo Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Sentinel
Here is a “feel good” story for the New Year.
The Ivy League is a long way from Michoacan, Mexico, but brothers Edgar and Cesar Garcia Lopez, our Immigrants of the Day, charted the course. Cesar graduated from Watsonville High School (near Santa Cruz, California) in June and just finished his first semester at Yale. Edgar was Watsonville’s valedictorian in 2012, and is in his junior year at Brown. The brothers were home in Watsonville on winter break.
Edgar was 9, Cesar, 6, when their parents, Juan Garcia and Patricia Lopez Garcia, immigrated to the United States to ensure their children received the education they were denied. Settling in Watsonville, they went to work at Dole, Juan as a forklift driver, Patricia as a box-maker. In Watsonville schools, Edgar and Cesar learned English and flourished. Cesar, who is one the youngest if not the youngest Yale freshman, skipped first grade and was among the first students to attend Ceiba College Preparatory Academy, a Pajaro Valley charter school that stresses higher education.
KJ