COLUMN: A minority report
Among several thousand students at Utah State University, there are those who excel, those who waiver, and those whose outstanding academic and extra-curricular performance shines among the very best that any institution of higher learning has to offer.
One of those students is Jose Castillo — to his friends and family, he’s Joe.
Joe’s childhood was quite eventful in a negative way. He claims he “was both physically and sexually abused as a child,” and was treated poorly throughout his stay at home. Joe is Hispanic and says he has been discriminated against by university faculty, peers, and the general public. He has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and suffers from depression.
However, there is no stopping Joe. Consider his collegiate experience and extra-curricular activities: College Bound, Utah State University rugby club, Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Hispanic Student Union, Black Student Union, Campus Judicial Council, College Republicans, and the Minority Undergraduate Fellows Program.
Joe played scrum half for the USU men’s rugby club team, and was president of the club in 2000-01. Several weeks ago, he went to Hawaii for a Fall Leadership Institute, where he was the only student from the state of Utah selected to attend. He said the single thing that stands out most about his experience was learning that everyone’s motivated, but not everyone’s inspired.
Joe has had several obstacles to overcome in order to get where he is today. He came from a broken home, struggled with religion, while remaining true to his roots and culture. The positive influences he has made at Utah State include countless hours of service to grade schools via USU programs and serving with various clubs and organizations.
The factors he thinks contribute most to his overall success at Utah State University are a faculty member who had faith in him that he could accomplish his goals and the support from his fraternity brothers at Pi Kappa Alpha. Joe believes he stands apart from the rest as a leader because of his inner drive to succeed and open doors for those that follow him. USU has enriched his life.
“The university has opened my mind to the close-mindedness of the state of Utah and those that go on to higher education and the administrators who help me realize what I don’t want to be,” he said.
The advice he would give to any incoming freshman at Utah State University is, “Stay true to your culture and roots, but be open to others’ ideas.”
We can all learn a valuable lesson from Joe; we all have life challenges, hardships, and many stress-causing items to tackle on a daily basis. Joe has the attitude, motivation and desire to succeed in life, and continues to do so.
When we are down, may we remember someone always has it worse off, and there is always a chance. A chance to be had, to be clung to, and nurtured along. A chance with proper planning and solid foundations, to succeed as a student to lead a happy life.
Jesse Shelton is a sophomore graphic design major. Comments can be sent to shelt@cc.usu.edu