Orphaned Refugee From Central America Becomes San Jose Attorney

(KPIX 5) -- The video of Hector Rodriguez from 2003 shows a handsome, energetic preppie, wearing a jaunty baseball hat backwards on his head. He was a 17-year-old honors student at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose when we met him. Already he exuded a confidence as he walked through the hallways with friends, appearing not the least self-conscious as a cameraperson followed his every move.

Thirteen years later, we caught up with Hector, now a man. He had contacted Students Rising Above recently with an exciting update. He was now officially an attorney at law, having passed the California bar exam. By the time we saw him, he'd taken the oath.

"It's only been two weeks or about a week and a half since I got sworn in and I been waking up thinking that I'm not sure if it's true," he said laughing.

LEARN MORE: Students Rising Above

He showed us the fuzzy home video taken by a relative: an auditorium full of young people stand with their right hand in the air, taking the oath. It was a stunning accomplishment for a young man who arrived as a teenager from Nicaragua, an orphan with no money, and speaking not a word of English.

"I wasn't supposed to graduate from law school. None of the statistics say that is possible," Hector noted. "But the statistics are wrong."

It was not just his native intelligence that helped him defy those statistics. Perhaps most of all, it was character - a depth that has only become more evident as Hector grew into a man.

But he also had a good beginning. "It's always been very clear to what my motivation has been," he said. "Education has always been my medium, so to speak, that connects me with my parents. It connects me since I was a little kid; they spent so much time teaching me algebra and how to write, and grammar… I had the fond memories of my mom and I just working away and teaching me things and I wanted to be the best student I could be."

The term "medium" is significant here, because Hector lost both his parents before he came to the U.S. His father was killed by a drunk driver when Hector was in 8th grade. Shortly after that, his mother, overcome with grief, took her own life.

"I was so confused," he remembered. I didn't know what was happening. I mean, in two months that life, that family nucleus was absolutely destroyed."

After Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America in 1998, Hector and his sisters came to the United States with the wave of immigrants from Nicaragua. They went to live with their aunt in San Jose.

To learn English, he went to a nearby library with his cousin and checked out a mountain of dictionaries, children's books and videos
"If there was any word I didn't know, I'd write it down and I'd go to the dictionary to find out what that word meant," he remembered.

He was so bright and his grades so exceptional, Hector was able to get a scholarship to go to Bellarmine College Prep. The man who helped him find his way there was Father Luis Calero, who worked at Santa Clara University. Father Calero was introduced to Hector and his sisters by the President of Hector's Jesuit school in Nicaragua, who asked Father Calero to help the kids get established academically in San Jose. It was to become a significant relationship. Over time, he became like a father figure and a guiding force for the three siblings.

Hector went from Bellarmine to Boston College, where he would get his Bachelors in Political Science and History. He later went on to get a Masters in History there as well.

We caught up with Hector when he graduated from college in 2006. We met him, his two sisters and Father Calero as well, who shed light on how tight the three siblings really are.

"I think the tragedy of what happened to mom and dad brought them together in a very unique way. They are all responsible for one another," said Father Calero. "They have a sense that each one of them wishes the best for one another, and they are best friends among themselves. They may come to me, they come to other people, but ultimately they always consult with one another."

His sister, Jeansil, put it this way: "the three of us are one, definitely. When I think of me, I never think of me on my own, and I'm sure they're the same… Every step we take, we make sure that we are holding hands and we are going together."

And always, the three feel the presence of their parents. After Hector finished college, sister Marcela told us, "I know that our parents are probably looking down on him, just being happy."

From the time he was 17, Hector told us that he always felt his parents' presence. "They've never left my side. They've been with me every step," he told us when we talked with him recently. "They're here with me today."

Hector remembered when his father had visited the United States in 1997 for his aunt's wedding, and visited Santa Clara University. "He had never seen an American university and he looked around at these beautiful palm trees at this beautiful school, and to this day, everybody in my family remembers this story. He said, 'How I wish my kids could come to a place like this.'" There was a tear in Hector's eye as he completed that story. "I'm glad that his dream could come true," he said.

This commitment to his parents through education is what fed Hector's hunger for education. "It's been easy to go to school when you have that kind of motivation," he said. "There's a stronger force that's moving you along through life. It fills your life with more meaning and education was not a task, it was not a tedious assignment … it was an enjoyable process.

"You have to look deeper within yourself and find a stronger force that can move you through obstacles."

Hector is not sure what kind of law he will practice - possibly employment litigation or immigration law. He wants to do something that will help people.