Alumni in College
Robert Espinoza, son of Mary and Greg De La Cerda, and Arnold and Patty Espinoza of Madera
By Mary De La Cerda, Administrative Assistant, IT Department
MY SON, ROBERT Espinoza, received his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) on June 15, 2019. As parents, we are extremely proud of his accomplishments and will continue to support him on the path to his future goals.
Growing up in Madera, Robert was that shy quiet kid always making the Honor Roll with straight As. He attended Lincoln Elementary School from kindergarten through the sixth grade, then attended Thomas Jefferson Middle School, promoting with the Academic Achiever and Math Trophies. At Madera High School, he continued to earn straight As, while playing football, basketball, and volleyball all four years. Robert received the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award and graduated as Valedictorian in 2014.
Robert has always strived to do well in school, so when he decided to continue on with the Master’s Program for Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly, we knew he would follow through to the end and continue to make us proud.
Robert reminisced, “Toward the end of senior year in high school, I was still undecided about what I wanted to do. After getting accepted into Cal Poly, the school made me choose a major that I wanted to pursue. All I knew was that I was good at math and science and the one class I took in high school, that dealt with it, was interesting. Therefore, I chose to study electrical engineering and stuck with it to get my degree.
During college I did not participate in extracurricular activities. Some of the most memorable moments, though, were hanging out and going out with friends. There have been some good times, after a long stressful week, and heading downtown to forget about the stress and enjoy the night with friends provided well-deserved relaxation.
There are other moments of long hours on campus working on projects. The long hours came mostly from the debugging process, trying to figure out why certain things would not work correctly. Even though these were not the most fun times, it was rewarding to finally see the hard work pay off and the project working, when properly completed.”
Robert’s hobbies include playing basketball and video games.
Looking forward, Robert states, “It would be nice to stay close to home and find a good job there. My family members are the ones who have supported me through everything, so I would like to be able to see them without having to travel too far from where I end up. However, more realistically, I will likely have to relocate for a good job in electrical engineering.”
His main goals are finding a steady job and purchasing a house within the next five years.
