Esteban Arjona

Student

“My parents kept me a real ‘straight arrow.’ They saw other parents who didn’t care, and they didn’t want that for me.”

Life is all about choices, and Esteban Arjona grew up with a lot of friends whose choices, he was convinced, were dead wrong. “I know a lot of guys who ended up in Juvenile Hall or jail. That whole ‘macho’ thing is just a mystery to me. But I know a lot of Latino guys who are going straight, too,” he says. “Some are at Cal State LA and Claremont, and I want that for myself: setting goals and making them happen.” Esteban’s current goal is to reach Syracuse University and study Political Science there. “I’ve been thinking about making a career with the FBI, because I like investigating and stopping the bad guys,” he says.

But Esteban knows that transferring to a university and joining the elite in law enforcement will require some real struggle. “It’s not as bad as I thought, going to college. But sometimes balancing work and study does get a little stressful, because SMC is a hard school. And one problem area I’ve got is math. But my teacher, Terry Green, is the best. He puts so much humor and life into his classes. And I don’t even mind going to tutoring three times a week, as long as it gets me to where I want to be.”

Esteban credits his mom and dad with being “best friends and teachers. They’re always there for me, and I’m there for them, too. I’ve never been in trouble or let them down,” he says. “And that is something I feel very, very proud of.”

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