By RONNIE FUENTES  
The Tower 

Seniors across the country run to the mailbox or constantly refresh their in-box, eager to open an envelope or email with their dream school’s logo across the masthead.

It’s College Acceptance season, and for one Manteca High dynamo, it’s been bountiful.

Salvador Suarez is a senior who has already been recognized by many universities. He’s been accepted to: San Francisco State University, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Diego State University, UC San Diego, and UCLA.

However, he’s been wait-listed by three of the country’s most prestigious universities — Stanford, Harvard and NYU — adding a bit of suspense to this acceptance season.

Being accepted to many universities proves Suarez’s character and his excellence as a person and student overall.  

Over the last four years, Suarez has received many awards and summited several personal mountaintops. He is a four-year class president; two-year National Honor Society president; four-year National Honor Society Member; a bronze medalist in literature for Academic Decathlon; HOBY Ambassador; Ed100 Ambassador; NYU College Access Leadership Institute ambassador; former swim team captain; intern at the Manteca Chamber of Commerce; and donator for the Children’s Home of Stockton, which gives at-risk youth a home to succeed academically and socially.

His story of success, however, started at a much earlier age … long before he arrived on Manteca Unified’s oldest campus.

Suarez was a 7-year-old immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, who challenged language barriers by becoming fluent in English in about a year.

At 10, he explored his potential and fell in love with the idea of building a future. In his early teenage years, he developed depression and anxiety, but remained resilient. He is now advocating for queer visibility and immigrant rights, and is looking to Stanford and Harvard to help disenfranchised communities. 

“When I arrived to this country as a 7-year-old immigrant from Guanajuato, Mexico, I believed I would fall into the statistic of children who are intimidated into failing academically and socially due to language barriers. I challenged this by becoming fluent in English in almost under a year, and proved to myself I could chase any dream I had.”

First-year Manteca High counselor Wayne Cheung recognized Suarez’s special qualities early on. Cheung was comforted Suarez’s attitude, 1,000-watt smile, and warm welcome.  

“Since this is my first year here, I was a bit nervous, especially in the high school setting,” Cheung said. “But the cool thing about meeting Sal was that he came into my office with a big smile, with an awesome tone and he was like ‘Hey, I’m Salvador, I believe that you’re my counselor’ and right then and there, I just felt like this kid made me comfortable at Manteca High. It’s pretty wild for a student to do that to an adult and I think that’s the attitude that Sal has.”  

With a variety of acceptance letters, Suarez will choose a place where his views are recognized and honored.  

In the fall term, Suarez plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in business economics followed by a master's degree in business administration. He also hopes to one day work with the group management team at LVMH, which is behind-the-scenes for Fashion Week.

Where are they going?

Seniors who have been admitted to a two- or four-year university, or the military have been encouraged to celebrate their next step by placing their name on a Celebration Wall in the counseling center. Here’s a look at the current list of names:

UC

Ronnie Fuentes – UC Davis, Stephanie Baires – UC Davis 

CSU

Guadalupe Enriquez – Stanislaus State, Connor DePrater – USC Monterey Bay, Emily Cobain – Stanislaus State, Nathan Contreras – San Bernardino, Lydia DeDios – Stanislaus State, Kira Reyes – S.F. State, Taylin Hillman – Stanislaus State, John Paul Campos – Stanislaus State, Gabriella Jackson – Stanislaus State, Mariah Alcazar Aldaco – San Jose State  

Out of State/Private

Katie Kim – University of Pennsylvania, Blake Nichelson – Florida State University, April Fernandez – Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Ava Garay – University of Silicon Valley, Maleah Hokett – Paul Mitchell Cosmetology, Nori Farwal – Southern New Hampshire University 

Delta College

Ty Flores, Ricardo Villalvazo, Darius Morris Roberson, Monica Aguilar, Elon James. Bernardo Ceja, Julian Espinoza, Evelyn Moreno, Nevaeh Hernandez, Diego Urquieta,  Aneglica Espinoza, Andres Garcia, Stephanie Baires, Ronnie Fuentes, Kimberly Orda, Carsyn VanZant, Jacob Paul, Bryant Dominguez, Ryan Herrick, Lianna Ramirez, Jhezzarhie Breganza, Timothy Davis, Daniela Aranda Flores, Isaac Cisneros, Emily Cargil. Mariah Alcazar Aldaco, Adriana Gutierre,  Guadalupe Mercado Guevara, Alan Verdin, John Urias. Kathia Grijalua, Jonathan Tevez, Brandon Holland, Chase Gandy, Israel Quintero, Julian Espinoza, Nicholas Martinez, Arlhet Rodriguez, Georgia Hutchison, Andrea Valencia-Pineda  

Sacramento City College

Fatima Victoria

Military

Lean Gopez – Marines, Cody Demieville – Army  

Modesto Junior College

Alma Cruz, Alayna Bottoms,  Ramon Arechiga, Stephanie Aguilar, Kaden Thiel, Ethan Carney,

Mason Gibson, Luis Muniz-Frausto, Zach Johnson, Jenna Poncini, Alysa Melendez, Isaiah Evans, Lovneet Bang, Alyson Tse, Marly Goodwin, John Louie Palanqui, David Chea, Baily Thompson, Allison Berg, Addisyn Allen, Sanjana Sagar, Elias Cruz, Carissa Kemp, Aldo Garcia, Steven Maciel, Adriana Naranjo, Ayden Marshall, Jayden Gonzalez, Kaitlen Petra. Joshua Vicente Martinez, Grayson Roman, Amy Panigu, Arbaj Sidhu, David Talavera, Nishaah Heer, Jillian Santos, Aiden Lang, Gilbert Gabriel Troche, Victor Flores, Jason Foreman, Isaiah Tariku. Angel Rosario