It was his junior year in high school when his mother was diagnosed with the disease.
Now a graduate of Fremont High School, Angel Roa checks his diabetic mother’s glucose level each morning before she leaves for work. He makes sure she’s on a balanced diet and regularly exercises.
Lately, he’s pushed her to do so on her own, because it’s only a matter of days before he’s off to college at the University of Southern California.
“It just did not seem right that this was a routine act in my hero’s everyday life,” Angel said. “Since my mother worked seven days a week sweeping, mopping and cleaning at the Best Western and measuring, stacking, washing and sewing as a tailor in San Jose, her health was never a priority.”
Angel said the day she got diagnosed, his mother told him if she dies, make sure to pick up her paychecks so he and his brother can eat.
“Her response to her diagnosis was classic; I expected that she would say something so practical,” he said. “It was then that I made a decision: it was not the time for me to roll over and become a victim. It was time for me to break the cycle of apathy.”
Last summer he decided to take his first active role in learning more about diabetes by seeking a summer internship at Kaiser Permanente. He became unsure about applying when he saw that the program was considering 150 applicants, yet only 12 were going to be accepted.
“I told my mother about the low odds, and as I expected, she was indifferent, just as she’d been with her diabetes,” he said. “Her attitude angered me because it was not in her to fight for something that would have helped her. She often recited to me a mentality in which one should live for the now and that the future was not in anyone’s power to control.”
Rather than follow that attitude, the 18-year-old decided to take control and take a chance by applying for the internship. The day the big manila envelope came, he was dismayed by the news that he was not accepted.
“Seven weeks later my mother’s teaching still ran in my mind–the future is not in anyone’s power to control–when I received a phone call that echoed from the other room,” Angel said, “a phone call from Deena, the Kaiser Permanente summer coordinator, asking me whether or not I was still interested in the program.”
With no hesitation, he accepted.
Life’s challenges don’t seem to faze the Bay Area native. Of Mexican descent, he is the first in his family to go to college. Angel grappled with tests of his character throughout his academic career. Coming from a Spanish-speaking family, as a younger student he was placed in an English language development class, but said because of his light skin and hazel eyes, he was taken out and put in the “regular English class.”
“My appearance has taught me many things that people may never understand,” he said. “It has taught me how one’s name can flip the outside image of oneself; also, how lighter skin color is more accepting than a darker color.”
Having the opportunity to succeed academically made him more determined to coach students who might not receive a leg up. Throughout his high school career, in addition to being a regular swimmer and cross-country runner, Angel made time to mentor younger students through AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination.
“Whenever I mentor kids, I help them make a career path and choose the correct courses that will help them in the long run,” he said.
While attending USC, Angel plans to live on an all-Latino dorm floor and to mentor through a program that teaches inner-city kids in Los Angeles.
The math wiz who wants become an accountant is also thinking about going pre-med in light of his mother’s illness.
“As much as I love to mentor and tutor kids, I cannot see myself doing it as a full-time career,” Angel said. “As a doctor, I would like to volunteer at the local clinics and offer free check-ups for the families who cannot afford health insurance.”
However his college career pans out, one thing for sure is that all of his expenses are covered.
The full tuition for USC will be covered by a combination of grant and scholarship money, including $10,000 from a USC Leadership Scholarship, $30,000 from a university grant, $9,708 from a Cal Grant, $5,550 from a Pell Grant and $1,000 from an outside scholarship.
“Angel is an impressive and determined young man,” Fremont High principal Bryan Emmert said. “His positive attitude, innate abilities and strong work ethic are a winning combination.”
Teachers at Fremont High agree that Angel has come a long way and is expected to go even further.
“Angel has built-in confidence in his academic abilities as well as socially,” AVID teacher Elise Nahum said. “What truly sets Angel apart is his tenacity that consistent hard work will pay off. Rather than settle for the plans others expected from him, he went the extra mile, applied to top colleges all over the nation and now will be going to USC in the fall.
“This is such a huge change from the shy, slightly awkward student I interviewed for AVID freshman year. Angel has come far in high school because he kept a tenacious mind-set. I am so proud of everything he has accomplished and to learn what type of man he will become.”
