Calvillo draws inspiration from brother’s success as EWU graduate

Miguel Calvillo, 23, spent his childhood in the orchard town of Sunnyside, Washington, where drive-by shootings were a monthly occurrence. In middle school, Calvillo’s neighborhood friend heard shots and came home to bullet holes in his bed.

Miguel is the first in his family of Mexican immigrants to attend college, and June 13 he will be the first to graduate, earning his B.S. in electrical engineering from Eastern Washington University.

Soon his brother Alex Calvillo will follow in his footsteps. Alex graduates from Sunnyside High School this spring and is weighing his options for college now.

“He’s taught me to use that as motivation, all the stuff you’ve been through, to give back to your family,” Alex said. “Everybody will look at you and think ‘Wow, nobody expected you to do this.’ I didn’t expect Miguel to do this, but he did.”

Now Miguel works in software engineering through an internship at F5 Networks, a company that focuses on the performance of web applications. But in high school he planned to train as an electrician. Alex remembers him worrying about how hard that profession would be.

It took inspiration from peers in college to shoot for something Miguel wouldn’t have considered in high school, he said. As a teenager so many people were involved in gangs that it didn’t stand out to Miguel.

“It is what it is,” Miguel said. “You hear about it, you talk about it, and all of a sudden it becomes your reality. You meet other people and they’re like, yo, that’s not normal. That’s not what normal people do.”

He counts himself lucky. He was never hungry and his mom did everything she could to keep him and his brothers happy and safe, even when his father was forced to leave the country.

When Miguel was 12, his father walked him to the park to tell him his visa would expire. A lawyer told him staying in the country would violate the law and prevent him from gaining citizenship later. He had to leave immediately.

So with only a day’s notice, he told Miguel he’d be flying back to his hometown of Morelia in Michoacán, Mexico.

“I’ve never been there,” Miguel said. “The first thing that pops up on Google is ‘Is Morelia, Mexico safe?’ ”

As soon as Miguel turned 21 he could file for his father’s citizenship, so he did. After three years waiting, his father would’ve returned this month if not for the coronavirus pandemic. Miguel thinks his father will be back in the U.S. sometime this year, and he looks forward to showing him who he’s become.

College gave him exposure to a new reality, where everyone around him seemed to have big, exciting plans, he said. Even if those plans would not materialize, his peers’ hope for the future alone motivated him.

“You surround yourself with people who have dreams, and if they’re shooting big, why can’t I?” Miguel said. “If they’re not settling for less, why should I settle for less?”

Getting here meant playing it safe for years. Miguel said he and his brothers rarely went outside. He spent most of his free time gaming to keep himself off the streets and out of any entanglements with gangs.

He doesn’t believe higher education is right for everyone. But to any teen in a small town, he’d recommend trying something new.

“You’re 100% in control of your life,” Miguel said. “If you don’t want to be there, you won’t be there.”