Manuel Garcia

Student

“Georgetown, Yale, USC, Columbia: you don’t have to start out at those schools. They’re all here at SMC.”

Manuel Garcia, Associated Student president, eats, sleeps, and breathes the study of politics. When asked if he plans to become a politician, he replies, “I am a politician! And I think it’s one of the most honorable professions because what we do in politics affects the lives of everyone. And SMC has opened this door for me. It has given me the opportunity to be a leader.” And leading—forming new directions for the people of his native El Salvador—is definitely in Manuel’s plans for the future.

“I will go back to work for my country because Salvador has a strong potential to become an industrialized nation,” explains Manuel. “The people need someone who can represent them to the world; someone who can listen to them and work for them in Washington, DC. And that’s why I’m transferring to Georgetown,” he says with a laugh. “I want to be next to the White House.”

But while awaiting his debut on the stage of international politics, Manuel busies himself with a dizzying schedule as Associated Students president, a schedule that demands sacrifice. “I was a bilingual teacher’s assistant at Mark Twain Middle School, and I was always organizing the students who were ready to drop out.” But though he doesn’t now have time to teach, he makes as much effort as possible to reach out with his own personal message to young people. “I tell them that college is like a ‘lab’; new ideas and new leaders are born here,” he explains. “I tell them to be active: if they’re not fighting the problem, they’re part of the problem. And the way to fight,” he continues, “is to find the ‘leader’ within them. They must look inside and meditate, but that ‘leader’ is there. And that’s the person each of us has in them that can serve his or her fellow human beings.”

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