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Elio Espinoza, A Young Man With Many Goals

Elio was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and migrated to the United States with his parents when he was an infant. Elio’s parents did not speak English and his father’s first job was as a dishwasher/busboy at a Mexican restaurant. With much hard work, Elio’s family slowly improved their lifestyle. Since their education was limited, Elio’s parents stressed its importance to their children. As a child, Elio amazed his parents when he learned English by watching T.V. While in school, he became a great aid to teachers because he would help translate for students who didn’t speak English.

Those who know him are quick to point out that when help is needed, Elio steps in and does what he can to lend a hand. For instance when his family was going through a crisis, Elio stepped up and began working at a restaurant to help support them. He astutely found a way to dodge the pressures of his community that included drugs, alcohol and crime, by becoming an active member of the Boys and Girls Club in his neighborhood.

Today, Elio is focused on his future and currently attends Brophy College Preparatory thanks to the financial assistance made available by the private school tax credit program, Brophy Community Foundation. Without this assistance, Elio knows there is no way he would be able to attend Brophy and is very grateful that these funds are available to him. An excellent student with a commitment to give back to his community, Elio was recently honored as the Harry and Sandy Rosenzweig Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year. He has also been recognized as “The Face” of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America’s program Power Hour.

Elio’s dreams are big; he wants to attend Arizona State University and then pursue an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management. Having achieved straight A’s for the past three years one thing is for sure – Elio is well on his path to achieve his goals. Elio sees goal setting as a way of measuring one’s ultimate potential stating, “To be the first in my family to graduate from high school and then continue on to college is my greatest goal. I want to make my family proud; I want to give them back what they’ve given to me.”