After dealing with the tragic loss of the people who raised him, Madera South’s Cristobal Cortez worked to be better and reached as high as he could.
That path, and a promise he made to his uncle, has led Cortez to earn a full-ride scholarship to attend Notre Dame.
“My motivation was my uncle,” Cortez said. “He made sure I did my homework. Before he died, I made a promise to him that I would try my best to be the best in high school. With that promise, I wasn’t ever happy with a B because I wanted my uncle to know I did my best in school He told me he didn’t want me working in the fields.”