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

September 5, 2026 - 01:37

When Pedro Calderon walked into his first day of high school, he quickly realized something was off. None of his classes were honors or Advanced Placement courses. Rather than accept the placement, he showed up at his counselor's office the very next morning and asked to be moved into the most challenging curriculum available. That early refusal to settle would define his entire academic journey.

Calderon, who earned his bachelor's degree from UCLA in 2025 and is now finishing a master's in 2026, became a Double Bruin through sheer persistence. But he did not do it alone. Over the course of his undergraduate career, he received 28 separate scholarships. Each one chipped away at the financial barriers that so often block first-generation students from reaching elite universities. For Calderon, the son of immigrants and the first in his family to attend college, those awards were not just money. They were a signal that people believed in him.

Now, with his master's degree nearly complete, he is turning his attention outward. Calderon has committed himself to mentoring high school students from similar backgrounds, helping them navigate the confusing world of college applications, financial aid, and scholarship hunting. He speaks openly about the imposter syndrome he felt in his early years at UCLA and wants to shorten that learning curve for others.

His goal is simple but ambitious: to make sure that the support he received does not stop with him. He has already started working with local nonprofit groups that pair college mentors with first-gen high schoolers, and he plans to keep doing that work long after graduation. For Calderon, paying it forward is not a slogan. It is a debt he intends to repay, one student at a time.