Throughout my life, I have always had to beat the odds. I have been told that I am from Shandon and that I won't get anywhere in life. Working in agriculture with my dad since freshman year, showed me what a tough life my parents have had. Working in the vineyard for three summers during High School opened my mind to wanting to pursue a better life and education. My experience in the vineyard has pushed me to do better in school and motivated me to get a better education to eventually repay my parents for what they've done for me.

The scholarship has been very helpful, it has allowed me to buy books, pay tuition, cover a lot of expenses, and not worry about using out-of-pocket money to pay for school. The scholarship has allowed me to focus on school and be the best person I can be.

Alberto's Updates:

June 2023

My spring semester was definitely one to remember. I had the opportunity to work with various professors and also meet some new friends. After a stressful semester, I was able to pull straight A's. My project for the honors program is going well. I have my introduction and literature review completed. In the fall, I will start the data analysis part of my project. My mentor, Dr. Yu, has been amazing to work with. He has asked if I wanted to do my master's on a new project of his. After I complete my bachelor's, I will be staying to complete my master's degree!!!! I can't wait for that.

I have been excelling in school clubs as well. In the fall, I will be Vice president of the Enology Society and Treasure for the Viticulture Club. This was a very fun semester and I cannot wait for the fall semester. My internship is also going well. We are very deep into spray season, so it's a little chaotic at the moment. Harvest seems like it will be a good one this year, so I'm looking forward to that as well. I hope everyone at the Team is doing well!

December 2022

I hope this email finds you well! I hope you had an amazing Christmas. I finished my first semester at Fresno State. Today I received my final grades and I was able to finish with straight A’s!! It was a really fun semester all around. I made a lot of new friends and joined a few clubs. I was also accepted into the Jordan College of Agriculture Honors Program at Fresno State. I will be conducting a viticulture research project over the next 3 semesters with my viticulture professor. It was one of my best semesters ever. I look forward to next semester as I will start my viticulture classes that have a lot of hands-on labs.

June 2022

This was my last semester at Cuesta and man was it the hardest. My Biology class was very difficult. This was by far the hardest class I've taken. Through the ups and downs of the semester, I was still able to pull straight A's. A third of the way through the semester I was notified that I had been accepted into Fresno State. The amount of pressure that was release off of my shoulders was tremendous. Overall this last semester, although very difficult, was by far one of the best. I now look forward to enjoying my hard-earned summer!

January 2022

I am sending this email as an update for the fall semester and the year 2021. This semester I had some very challenging classes but I was able to pull through and got all A's. It was difficult but I was able to pull it off. I am entering my final semester at Cuesta and hope to attend Fresno State in the fall. I get my admissions decision from mid-February to early March. I am so nervous!! This year between school and my internship, I would say I had a very successful year. I was able to do well in school and meet so many amazing people along the way. Not to mention, we had a very successful harvest as well. This year I have invested more into my mental and physical health and it has been a huge aid in my success throughout the year. I am grateful to have the ability to work with you and the Vineyard Team, it truly is an honor. I hope 2022 brings the team and yourself great blessings and success.

November 2021

School has been hard but we are at the final stretch. I am taking accounting, biology, and political science this semester, so school has been difficult. After this semester, I will be entering my final semester at Cuesta. I sent my transfer application to Fresno last week, so I am a little nervous as I wait for admission results. If everything goes well, I should be attending Fresno next fall. The company I intern for finished harvest last week. We had a successful harvest and were able to sell all the grapes we had available!

I finished my spring semester with all A's. This semester was by far my hardest. I felt like I was not going to get A's in some classes because of how hard they were. Thankfully I managed to pull through and got the scores I wanted. I also tried pipe welding this past semester, and that was some of the hardest welding I have ever done. The skill gap really showed in this class.