Rudy

Rudy was born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico where he attended a very poor school that provided next to no education. Rudy compensated by reading huge amounts of information independently to teach himself years' worth of material in less than one month. When his parents sent him to the U.S. in 7th grade, he learned English in just 6 months. In high school he was moved from ESL directly into Honors classes and is currently ranked 15 in his class of 625. He has worked very hard to excel in English and also holds leadership positions in History Club, Choir, Academic Decathalon and the swim team. After school, he works a full job at HEB to contribute to his family. He will be the first in his family to attend college and feels tremendous pressure to succeed, "I am the only person who can help my family out of their poverty."