San Benito High School senior Diego Huerta, 17, is shown on campus playing his guitar. Huerta is a member of the Mariachi Del Sol band and the recipient of the 2011 San Benito News Scholarship. (Staff photos by Francisco E. Jimenez)
By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
Diego Horacio Huerta is named after Juan Diego, who according to legend, witnessed an apparition of the Virgen de Guadalupe in 1531.
The story of Juan Diego and the Virgen de Guadalupe is one that has a significant impact in the Catholic faith and Mexican culture, and Diego Huerta is no exception.
As a first generation American, Huerta’s culture has played a huge role in just about everything he does. After all, Huerta’s parents are both Mexican immigrants from Guanajuato, Mexico who came to the Rio Grande Valley approximately 20 years ago. In fact, for Huerta all of Hispanic culture is relative.
His family household is also not necessarily considered upper income. “My dad is a construction worker and my mom works at McDonalds,” said Huerta, the 17-year-old San Benito High School senior and recipient of the Eighth Annual San Benito News Scholarship.
Huerta, along with his older sister Isabel Huerta, is the first in his family to attend college, but he says that it doesn’t really seem like a huge accomplishment.
“It was always expected of us,” said Huerta. “Being that they didn’t want us to stay where they are at, they knew that we had to go further so they just pushed us. It doesn’t matter that we’re first generation, we were just waiting to go to college.”
This does not come as a surprise to those who know him, not to mention the fact that Huerta has been accepted and plans on attending college at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“My mom didn’t understand how selective Harvard is,” said Huerta. “I remember trying to give her statistics and telling her that only six percent of applicants get admitted. It didn’t hit her until I told her that Harvard was where presidents go to school.”
Huerta said that he plans to study Sociology or Psychology, but he hopes to have all of his pre-med requirements. “Hopefully I’ll have a medical degree or a Ph.D,” Huerta said. “I want to come back as a general doctor and help out. I have an older sister, and we both talk about coming back to the Valley and having our own clinic.”
Huerta said that his Hispanic culture and Catholic beliefs have played a substantial role in just about all aspects of his life; which is evidential in the essay he submitted for the San Benito News scholarship, one of the contributing factors to his selection in a field of over 40 deserving applicants.
“It’s hard not to (incorporate my heritage into my essay), because you’re surrounded in this culture and it’s made me who I am,” Huerta said. “I know where I’m from, and I know how being Hispanic has influenced me.”
When asked how moving away from a community that is predominantly Hispanic would affect his studies, he said that his only obstacle he could foresee are the New England winters.
“There is no way I am going to survive the winters. When I went (to visit Harvard) it was in the 50s. I had on a thick jacket for this area and I could barely handle it,” said Huerta. “Boston is a few minutes away from Harvard, and they’re a big Catholic community. I stayed at a dorm there that was pretty far off from the campus. Between where I was staying and the campus, there was a Catholic church, so I was able to go there for Palm Sunday. It was nice.”
Academic honors and rewards Huerta has received include AP Scholar with Distinction Recognition, National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar, Gold Academic Letterman for the top five percent of his class, Tech Prep Scholar, Border Patrol Head of the Class, and Academic Letterman for Decathlon/Mastermind.
Huerta is also the president of the Health Occupation Students of America, Committee Chairman of the National Honor Society, Vice-President of the Business Professionals of America, a member of the National Technical Honor Society, Vice Chairman of the Youth Awareness Committee, Honors Team Captain of the Academic Decathlon, and member of the Mu Alpha Theta.
Community organizations Huerta has been involved in include being a guitar player for Mariachi Del Sol at San Benito High School, and a volunteer at Valley Baptist Medical Center, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Amenity Hospice, and Rio Grande State Center. What’s more, Huerta has worked as a general office assistant at the Institute for Cultural Ecology and at the San Benito News as part of a 2009 summer internship.
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the April 27 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
Recent Comments