Scholar in the News
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Pedro Perez
"Being Hispanic has given me the determination to strive towards the American dream. A dream that can only be achieved by the legacy of hard work, determination and persistence."
- Alumni of: 2006 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program
- Resides: moultrie, GA
- Hometown: Moultrie, GA
- Age: 25
- Community College: Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
- Four-year College or University: Georgia Institute of Technology
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Classics, Engineering, Literature, Politics and Diplomacy, Social Science / Anthropology
- Other Interests: Honor Society, International Relations / NGOs, Public Policy
Biography
Pedro Perez is the seventh of eight children of a family from the Central Mexican state of Queretaro. His family immigrated to the US when he was in the fourth grade, to get a good education for the children. At the time, there were few Hispanics in South Georgia where they settled. Within two years, Pedro's English had improved and he caught the eye of teachers who enrolled him in a gifted program, then pushed him to take advanced math. He resisted. "I was afraid of not being able to measure up to the 'smart kids,' kids whose parents were usually professionals and who always helped their children with their homework. And there I was, a shy immigrant from Mexico with only two years worth of English."
He got the top grade in seventh grade advanced math, learned he could surpass the privileged kids and says, "My confidence in my academic abilities skyrocketed." He ignored temptations to hang out. He chose "work over fun, hard classes over the easy ones but best of all, I chose my future over the present." He spread his wings even more in college, winning honors, stoking his interest in the humanities as well as engineering, and took on many leadership roles, including being named one of 14 ABAC ambassadors to help with recruitment. Now he is ready to learn how to apply science, through engineering, "to the improvement of society and humanity."
Other Scholars Like Pedro
Edwina Loh
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar
University of California, Los Angeles
Alexey Morozov
Graduate Scholar
University of Michigan
Janelle Knox-Hayes
Graduate Scholar
University of Oxford
Adam Vinson
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar
University of Mississippi