LEAVING A LEGACY — Former ASO President Juan Luis Espinoza encouraged SWC students to transfer to distinguished universities and was the recipient of the Student of Distinction Award in 2014. He died in an automobile accident this summer.
Former ASO President Juan Luis Espinoza died in a traffic accident July 18 while traveling between Chula Vista and UCLA, where he was a sociology major. He was 33.
Espinoza was Associated Student Organization president during the 2012-13 academic year and Puente Club president in 2010-11. He has also served as ASO Senator of Business Services.
Laura Jessica (del Castillo) Douglas, who in 2013-14 succeeded Espinoza as ASO president, said she was shocked to learn of Espinoza’s death. She praised him as a talented leader whose favorite cause was to ease Sweetwater High School students’ transition into SWC through the Pathway to Success Conference.
Douglas said she did her best to uphold Espinoza’s ideals.
“I hadn’t realized how much impact one person had in my life without me knowing it,” she said.
Espinoza’s Puente Club advisor Sylvia Felan-Gonzales said he grew up in Logan Heights and supported his family for several years as an electrician.
She said she was impressed with him from the moment they met.
“He was digging in his pockets to pay for one of his brother’s courses,” she said.
Felan-Gonzales said Nestor, Espinoza’s younger brother, was the first of his family to attend college. In fall 2010, 28-year-old Juan Luis Espinoza followed in his little brother’s footsteps and applied to SWC.
“They were brothers, but they were best friends,” said EOPS Supervisor Leticia Diaz.
Felan-Gonzales said he was at a point of his life where he wanted to focus on himself.
“(He decided to) start all over, reinvent (himself) and do it again!” she said. “Always open to new challenges. He had to stay an extra year because he wanted to do his all for the projects he started as ASO president.”
Douglas said he inspired his peers to work together to improve the campus experience for students.
“He was like everyone’s big brother and tried to show you how to be successful,” she said. “But he never lectured. We all followed his stream of success,”
Douglas said Espinoza had encouraged her and several others to apply to the UCLA Scholar Program which guides students through the process of transferring to University of California schools. Which led to her acceptance into UC Berkeley.
UC Santa Cruz student Ramiro Rodriguez said he was one of Espinoza’s best friends.
When Berkeley denied Rodriguez’s application to its Transfer Summer Experience, Espinoza convinced him to ask the university the reasoning behind its decision. After the university reviewed his application, Rodriguez said he was accepted.
“There are many of us who owe (much) to Juan Luis,” said Rodriguez.
Douglas said Espinoza helped a multitude of students transfer to universities.
“We are his legacy,” she said.
Diaz said Espinoza studied at UCLA since Fall of 2013 as a sociology major and hoped to someday become a community college counselor.
“I think this last year was probably his happiest,” Rodriguez said. “He went to his dream school and lived in his dream city.”