Recent Coral Gables High graduate Marcos Balsera is starting his new life as a college freshman at Davidson College in North Carolina. He is attending Davidson as a QuestBridge Scholar.
“I want to study economics and then, hopefully after that, I’ll be able to go to law school,” he said. “I hope to start my own firm in the future.”
Before leaving for college, Balsera and his Future Business Leaders of America team went to Chicago for a FBLA national competition in the parliamentary procedure category. The team did well, qualifying for one of only 15 spots in the finals.
One of the reasons he won the QuestBridge scholarship was his strong commitment to community service. He started a project his junior year that had him and several of his friends tutoring children at Centro Mater in Little Havana.
“It’s a daycare center. They help families that can’t pay for child care,” he said.
Balsera said they tried to make learning fun for the children who were in preschool to third grade. The project was important to him because it gave him a chance to give back to people who helped him.
“When my parents and I arrived from Cuba, I started there,” he said. “I was there for about two years and then I started my kindergarten.
My brother was there for about three years.”
He and his friends went to Centro Mater once a week.
“We split ourselves into group and we tried to keep it consistent to build better relationships,” he saide. “We tutored them on schoolwork and helped kids who couldn’t speak English.”
The plan was to continue the program until leaving for college and then have his brother continue it until he graduates.
In his senior year, Balsera was president of FBLA, vice president of Key Club, secretary of Debate Club and a member of the National Honor Society, the IB Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta.
By Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
