He met U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.
He’s Harvard-bound and now, 18-year-old Roberto Quesada can say he is the first Latino salutatorian at his Brooklyn Technical High School in New York.
As the son of immigrants, he hopes the honor can show the nation how “we’re capable of so much.”
“For me, this was a really big moment because I didn’t expect to be taught at a school like Brooklyn Tech,” said Quesada, salutatorian. “It’s 1,500 students but students actually have to test into the school … I knew that all the students there are already very academically driven and very smart.”
Quesada was accepted to Harvard, has a full scholarship and altogether, has also earned over $150,000 in scholarships through different organizations.
And he wasn’t the only one at Brooklyn Tech who made history. His classmate, Afifa Tanisa, became the first hijabi valedictorian and will attend Columbia University, majoring in applied mathematics. She also comes from an immigrant family, she told the school’s newspaper.
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Quesada ‘inspired’ by immigrant parents
Quesada started studying to get into Brooklyn Tech in seventh grade. Since attending school there, he has received multiple awards for his hard work, including a Coca Cola scholarship that is awarded to 150 students out of 91,000 applicants.
Going to Harvard has been a goal of Quesada’s since freshman year, he said.
He plans to pursue a degree in government and is passionate about educational equity. It’s deeply personal for him because he has often been one of just a few Hispanic students at his school.
“Only 7% of the student body is Hispanic,” he said. “I’ve often been the only Hispanic student in many of my classes and that’s put me in a tough spot many times because I had to speak on issues like immigration.”
He is the son of Honduran immigrants Lucy Pagoada-Quesada and Carlos Quesada, who came to the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s.
His mother moved to the U.S. speaking no English and went to school in the New York City public school system as a young Latina in the Bronx, he said.
“She was able to attend college but she told me that one of the biggest lessons she wanted to impart on me was this idea that she worked very hard,” Quesada said. “She’s an immigrant trying to make it in New York City and the United States without much. That really inspired me.”
He said he’s the first person in his family to go to an Ivy League university and he’s proud of that. Being raised by such hardworking people has shaped everything he does, he said.
“I see a lot of the rhetoric now that’s anti immigration or that speaks poorly about Latinos and groups that come in,” he said. “What I want people to see in many ways with my story is that immigrants and children of immigrants, we’re actually doing so much and we’re capable of so much.”
He hopes other descendants of immigrants see his story and know that their dreams can come to fruition.
He is also a social justice activist and works with local organizations to make sure public programs and systems work for all people, including marginalized groups.
He’s currently most passionate about climate change and educational equity and immigration.
“I think a lot of the rhetoric surrounding immigrants is pretty dangerous or paints immigrants in this very negative light as criminals or people that are coming to take jobs,” he said. “The work that I do specifically is about calling that out and making sure people know that immigrants actually have so much to contribute and are the backbone of this country.”
More on the star student and his academic career
When the 18-year-old isn’t studying, he’s usually listening to podcasts about the upcoming presidential election and candidates, practicing for debate or working on some political organizing projects.
He’s also an avid hiker and loves checking out new trails. He likes to review smoothie shops and other restaurants New York City has to offer as well.
At Brooklyn Tech, he loved taking AP Spanish Literature because he was able to focus on Hispanic culture and read works from authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He enjoyed studying the history of Latin America too.
“I think (the culture) is so rich and so unique, but it’s often neglected in our schools,” he said.
Out-of-class experience took him to White House
Making such big strides in his academic career wasn’t something he did overnight.
The 18-year-old has put lots of work into getting internships and scholarships. That’s how he was able to stand among the likes of President Biden in January 2022.
During his sophomore year, he applied for the U.S. Senate Page Program, where students spend months living and learning in Washington, D.C. He was one of four students selected from New York and worked with democratic senators.
Quesada met AOC at an event about educational equity in April 2023.
“It was very great to meet her in person,” Quesada said. “She’s somebody I look up to a lot as a Latina in Congress who I think is making a lot of moves and really working to make a lot of progressive issues … that previously weren’t talked about a lot, making those much more well known.”
Striving to ‘have an impact’
Elizabeth Johnson taught Quesada in 11th grade AP U.S. History.
He joined the class halfway through the year but it didn’t take long for her to see how driven he is, she said.
“From the moment he entered the class, he was engaged,” she said. “He participated. He sort of hit the ground running and it was clear almost immediately, his own interest in history and politics, government and things like that.”
She said the teenager is very open and positive. He speaks freely and he has a personal connection to the issues he’s learning about.
“He’s supremely intelligent but also hardworking and enthusiastic and ambitious,” she said. “He wants to move forward in life and have an impact on trying to promote our country.”
Quesada wants to share his story to show that Hispanic students are doing amazing things.
“Being the first Hispanic or indigenous student, knowing that for a century in our school’s history, we haven’t had somebody accomplish that … I think it’s very important to show that Hispanic students are capable of academic excellence.
If we’re able to give more resources to Hispanic, Black and Brown youth, then they will also be able to have that level of academic excellence.”