Roberto Alcantar started college young.
Very young.
He was 8 years old.
Esmeralda Alvarado, his mother, was, against all odds, determined to attend college to improve her family’s lot. She could not arrange child care for all her children, so young Roberto went to class with her.
Alcantar is back at SC and he is still young. Elected to the governing board at 29, he is one of the county’s youngest elected officials. And, according to the San Diego Business Journal, one of the county’s best young leaders.
Named one of the Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 Award” winners, the politically-savvy Alcantar is considered a man to watch.
“He has been instrumental in building new relationships and partnerships,” read the San Diego Business Journal profile.
Alcantar’s SC story began in a one-bedroom apartment he shared with his single mother and younger siblings in San Ysidro. He said he clearly remembers the time his mother came across a SC flyer at a family resource center. It was an 8×10.5 piece of paper that changed their lives forever. With a bit of help from child care, public assistance and caring faculty members, Esmeralda Alvarado was able to enroll for classes at Southwestern’s San Ysidro campus barely knowing English.
Señora Alvarado walked the path of a student. She carved out time to focus on her studies while child care watched her two youngest kids, but not Roberto. He said he loved going to classes with his mother, though it was not easy for her.
“It’s not that she wanted to take me to class, but she had to,” Alcantar said.
Alvarado earned a degree in child development and was hired by the San Ysidro school district to work for Smythe Elementary School, while her children started their educations. Alcantar attended Mar Vista Middle School and Southwest High. He confessed he was never the perfect student.
“I was deemed as a trouble maker, so I was kind of isolated,” he said. “I realized that I could be more effective putting that energy into building my community and being a better leader.”
At age 16 he liked to stir the pot he said, organizing students to fight for things like cleaner restrooms and better facilities. His strength as a young leader was already starting to show, but counselors still told him he had no chances of making it into any college.
“I was pretty much told that I probably didn’t have a good future ahead of me,” he said. “They just didn’t have faith in me.”
His high school counselors’ lack of encouragement did not stop him. He eventually transferred to UC Berkeley where he learned how to organize and become an even more of an effective leader. After earning a Bachelor’s in political science and public policy, Alcantar chose to return home to San Ysidro and work in his home community.
“I wanted to invest in my community and lead by example,” he said. “If we’re going to go out there and become leaders, then let’s come back and help build a community that we grew up in.”
Alcantar was elected to the governing board in 2016 when he was 29 years old.
“I’m just one example,” he said. “The fact that I as a young person was able to accomplish this should not be considered something exciting… it should be the norm for our community.”
Alcantar said he enjoys working with students and faculty to better the SC experience. He announced at the June board meeting that SC secured a $115,00 California Campus Catalyst Fund for the Dreamer Center. He also announced a grant for $113,636 from the California Community Colleges Chancellors’ Office for students who are currently or formerly incarcerated.
Board colleague Tim Nader said Alcantar has the right priorities.
“Students First is the culture we are trying to promote through the college,” Nader said.
Education has elevated his family, Alcantar said. His sister Esmeralda is one of the first Latina marine biologists to graduate from UCSD and his younger brother Alberto is enrolled at SC majoring in history.
“It all really started with this place, which is why this place is so special to me,” he said.
