EAOP Alumni Profiles

EAOP targets low-income students attending some of the state's most challenged schools and puts them on track to a college education. EAOP empowers students to envision themselves succeeding in college and guides families with no history of college-going in navigating college options and the complex application process.

EAOP graduates attend all the UC campuses, including UCLA and UC Berkeley. Two of the top private school destinations are USC and Stanford.

EAOP alumni succeed in fields including engineering, politics, law, science, education, medicine, architecture, and business.

To read more about a student's EAOP experience, select a photo below.



Are you an EAOP alumnus interested in being profiled here? If so, please send an email message with your name and contact information to eaop@ucop.edu.

Francisco Castillo

Graduating Class
UC Berkeley, Class of 1995
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
Master of Science in Civil Engineering, 1997

High School
Mission High School (San Francisco),
Class of 1991

Current Position
FTF Engineering Inc. - Senior Associate/Partner

Instructor at Academy of Art University,
San Francisco - Graduate Architecture Program

Francisco Castillo credits EAOP with putting him on the path to college. "Without EAOP, getting into college would have been far more difficult. EAOP gave me the tools to compete with students who went to better-performing high schools than mine. My success is directly linked to the help I received from EAOP." A native of Nicaragua and first-generation college student, Francisco earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, where he graduated with honors. He is currently a partner in FTF Engineering in San Francisco, California, where he designs multimillion dollar commercial and residential buildings.

While many of the teachers at Mission High School were supportive of his desire to learn, Francisco recalls that most people in his neighborhood believed college was not within their reach. "That's the culture I grew up in. College was not a reality. Then, EAOP showed up to help me."

Francisco recalls his experience in the Berkeley EAOP Pre-College Academy (PCA) summer program as a turning point in his life. "Like most of my classmates in high school I knew of UC Berkeley, but the idea of attending the University seemed more like a dream than an actual possibility. I still remember being in the 10th grade and going with my Dad on a Saturday to the PCA orientation meeting on the campus. I fell in love with UC Berkeley and I knew that was the place where I wanted to study civil engineering."

In addition to attending the Berkeley PCA two summers in a row, Francisco also participated in Saturday SAT preparation workshops-offered through EAOP on the San Francisco Community College campus-and attended special sessions where his EAOP mentors read and critiqued his college essay. EAOP did more for Francisco than give him the information about how to apply to UC, it provided inspiration as well. "All these [EAOP] programs served me in two main areas. They gave the information and tools to apply to the UC system, which I would have never been able to get at my high school. However, the most important area in which they helped me was confidence and motivation. I always felt encouraged by EAOP staff to reach for more. I'm truly thankful for all the help and support all the people at EAOP provided to me during my years in high school."

Francisco's EAOP mentors also served as role models for his success. Throughout high school, Francisco looked up to his EAOP advisors as people who had achieved his goal of graduating from college in the United States. Even more, they were helping those who wanted to follow in their footsteps. "They served as an example to me, that in order to be truly successful, you need to achieve your own goals and then help others achieve theirs. This realization awoke in me the desire to help students achieve their goals of higher education."

To this day, Francisco stays active helping students with similar backgrounds. He has worked as a mentor and advisor for the Charles Tunstall Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) at UC Berkeley. He serves as a motivational speaker for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF). He also returned to his roots in Berkeley PCA by serving as a speaker for that program as well, talking to students about his work and experiences. He's looking forward to working as an instructor for the Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP) sponsored by the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley this summer (2007), where he will teach an introductory course in engineering to high school students.

In his motivational speeches for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Francisco assures parents that there will be a way to pay for college through numerous financial aid opportunities. "When parents ask me how they will pay for college, I tell them to focus on getting their students to apply. Don't worry about the money; there will be a way to pay for school."

Francisco has advice for students as well: "Don't be afraid to ask for help. Most people who fail, do so because they refused to ask for help. The EAOP program is a great resource, and should be utilized by students as much as possible. Help is out there. Ask for it and work hard. Success will follow."

Francisco achieved his college dream of attending Berkeley. Once on campus, however, he faced questions from fellow students about whether he belonged there. "Any time a minority student enters any college," Francisco notes, "there is always a question about how he or she got there. Some students handle that perception issue better than others." Francisco's approach was to prove through is performance that he belonged. "People can criticize and question anything but results. My grades and the quality of my work spoke for me and proved why I was at UC Berkeley."

Francisco honors his parents-Jose and Indiana-for their emotional and financial support in putting him through college. They worked tirelessly to help put him through school and provided him with the work ethic that made his success possible. His father worked 14-hour days as a dishwasher and his mother 7 day-weeks as an in-home care-giver. "They have always been my main motivation and moral compass. They are without a doubt the reason I got through college." He also drew inspiration from his Aunt Gladys, who told him that college was his destiny. "She always believed in me and taught me and trained me to be the best student I could."

Francisco presently draws his inspiration and support from Sonia, his wife of three years. Sharing a similar background, Sonia's parents worked picking fruit in the fields near Santa Cruz. She shares Francisco's passion for engineering and his work ethic. "I love her dearly and I feel as the luckiest man on earth for having married her." Sonia gained her love of engineering through another UC academic preparation program, MESA, and she and Francisco met through their volunteer work for the Multicultural Engineering Program. "I met her while at UC Berkeley so I can honestly say that the University gave me the greatest two gifts in my life, my profession and my wife."

When asked if there was anything else he would like to add, Francisco said simply: "GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"