Yet another Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley alum earned their college degree this year. Let’s catch up with Carlos Rodrigues, our 2014 Youth of the Year and the newest University of Nevada graduate.
Carlos graduated from Yerington High School in 2015. Carlos, a longtime Club kid, made the move to Reno that summer where he started his civil engineering program at the University of Nevada, Reno that fall. Without Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley, he feels like his college experience would have been a bit different right from the start.
“My experiences at the Club opened up a lot of opportunities to get scholarships,” Carlos said. “Youth of the Year is a great example of that. Plus, I got to meet a lot of people through the Club, and a lot of them weren’t like me.”
Carlos said the experience of meeting people from different backgrounds really set him up for success, especially in such a diverse field as engineering.
“Youth of the Year not only gave me an introduction into public speaking but taught me how to work with other individuals who were different than me.”
Wrapping up his time as a student worker at the campus’ research and innovation department, Carlos says he’s hitting the job hunt hard for a job in his field. He’s passionate about civil engineering and knows it’s the field for him. While UNR’s campus was closed, Carlos and his team put their time to good use, sewing gowns and masks for the local hospitals.
While Carlos’ time and experiences at Boys & Girls Clubs set him up for success post-high school, the college experience wasn’t always the easiest. But, he had one thing he always held on to to help during the tougher times.
“I remember, when I was working for the Club, one of the members looked up at me in my last few weeks and told me, when he grew up, he wanted to be able to go to college just like me. I’ll never forget that.”