After 28 Scholarships Fund His UCLA Education, Double Bruin First-Gen Engineer Vows to Pay It Forward

On the first day of high school, Pedro Calderon ’25, M.S. ’26 learned he hadn’t been placed in a single honors or Advanced Placement class. The next morning, he went to his counselor and asked to be moved into the most rigorous courses the school offered. He knew that to get into UCLA, the college he had dreamed about since elementary school, he would need to challenge himself and strive to be among the very best in his class.

That experience taught him the importance of advocating for himself and taking initiative, even when the path wasn’t clear. But it wasn’t easy for Calderon. His parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico with nothing but hopes and dreams for their two daughters and son to have the opportunity to go to college. Growing up in Oxnard, California, Calderon struggled to keep up while balancing school, sports and working in the fields with his father to support his family. Over time, however, he learned how to multitask and manage these challenges.

“It made me realize that earning a college degree wasn’t just about achieving a personal goal. It was an opportunity to help my family and give back to my parents for everything they had sacrificed,” said Calderon.

Working in the fields also taught him that nothing comes easy and that if he wanted to accomplish his goals, he must be willing to work hard for them. He said he was fortunate to have the support from people who believed in him during some of the most challenging moments, including his high school counselor, who encouraged him to pursue opportunities he never thought possible and supported him throughout the college and scholarship application process.

Inspired by his older sister, he has also fulfilled his college dream and is the first person in his family to become an engineer after earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from his dream school, the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

Setting His Sights on UCLA

Calderon first visited UCLA as an elementary school student through the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, a K-12 initiative designed to prepare students for college and career. He remembers attending sporting events through AVID and coming away inspired by the campus and the opportunities UCLA represented.

Receiving his acceptance to UCLA, he said, was one of the proudest moments of his life.

“If I can help make the path a little easier for the next generation of students, then I’ll feel like I’ve honored the sacrifices my parents made for me,” said Pedro Calderon.

His interest in mechanical engineering began at a young age, with his parents’ cars. He enjoyed working on them and wanted to understand how each part functioned. “Whenever something broke, I wanted to understand not just how to fix it, but why it worked the way it did,” he said. That curiosity grew, and he eventually realized he could channel it into a career that would allow him to help his family and community.

During his senior year of high school, Calderon stepped away from the sports he loved — soccer, cross country and track and field — to spend his time on college and scholarship applications. He researched opportunities, wrote essays and applied for as many awards as he could find, getting many rejections along the way.

Ultimately, he earned 28 scholarships totaling more than $250,000, enough to cover both degrees in full.

“There wasn’t a roadmap for me to follow, so I learned by asking questions, taking initiative and making the most of every opportunity and resource available to me,” Calderon said. “Each application became an opportunity to learn and improve, and I continued moving forward until those opportunities began turning into scholarships.”

Calderon was rewarded with some of the most competitive scholarships in the country. He won a $20,000 Coca-Cola Scholars Program scholarship, awarded to 150 students each year from a pool of more than 100,000 applicants, and $40,000 as an Edison Scholar, one of 30 high school seniors selected each year across Southern California Edison’s service area. He also earned a $40,000 GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship, a $30,000 Lockheed Martin STEM Scholarship, a $30,000 Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarship and a $20,000 Dell Scholarship, among many others.

Plan to Pay it Forward

Through the Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists at UCLA, a chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Calderon has spoken on engineering panels and helped with STEM workshops for high school students, many from backgrounds similar to his. He has shared his journey from Oxnard, the obstacles he faced and the opportunities that pursuing an engineering career presented. Growing up, he never had an engineer who walked a similar path to guide him, and he wants to be that person for students who wish to pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Since graduating in June, Calderon has been interviewing for manufacturing engineering roles at aerospace and defense companies, where he hopes to apply the skills he developed at UCLA Samueli.

Yet his goals have long stretched beyond industry. Even when he was still applying for scholarships himself, Calderon knew he wanted to create STEM scholarships for first-generation, low-income students, and he is already saving toward that goal as he begins his engineering career.

He also plans to return to his former middle and high schools to mentor students, and says he hopes to award his first scholarship within five years. For Calderon, success ultimately means creating opportunities for the people who come after him.

“I want students to see that their background doesn’t have to define what they can accomplish,” he said. “If I can help make the path a little easier for the next generation of students, then I’ll feel like I’ve honored the sacrifices my parents made for me.”