Marco Murillo grew up in San Ysidro, the youngest son of a single mother who didn’t finish elementary school. Fast forward two decades, and Murillo is now UCSD’s Associated Students president and a political science and history major who plans to go to law school.

Much has happened during the past 20 years in Murillo’s life, but he credits The Preuss School and UCSD for nudging him in a new direction. “It opened up perspectives I didn’t see,” he said.

Growing up, many of the people around Murillo weren’t planning to go to a four-year college. He said he didn’t think about leaving home. All that started to change when Murillo was an eighth grader at San Ysidro Middle School.

There, he was enrolled in the school’s program for advanced students. And one of his teachers handed him an application to The Preuss School – a middle and high school jointly chartered by the San Diego Unified School District and UCSD that provides an intensive college prep education for motivated low-income students who will become the first in their families to graduate from college. The school is one of the programs that currently receives state funding for UC academic preparation efforts.

Murillo was accepted to Preuss, and a new life began.

Every day, Murillo embarked on a 90-minute commute to school, carpooling from San Ysidro to National City, where a school bus took him to Preuss. But the extra effort and time were well worth it, he said. Before going to Preuss, he had only visited a college campus once. Now, he interacted with UCSD tutors regularly and could ask questions about their classes. He learned about the opportunities the campus offers. His whole outlook shifted, he said.

The Preuss School provides an environment where students are continually encouraged and empowered to develop a greater sense of confidence through self-sufficiency and pride in their academic accomplishments. The school fosters a culture of high academic performance in an environment that encourages risk-taking, the art of questioning and logical and critical thinking. Its Academic Performance Index scores of place it as a top high school in San Diego County, and the school has an impressive track record of sending its graduates to four-year colleges.

Upon completing his studies at Preuss, Murillo was accepted at UCSD. He joined the Associated Students organization the winter quarter of his freshman year. He soon became the sophomore senator for Thurgood Marshall College and also started taking lobbying trips to Sacramento and later to Washington, D.C., promoting academic preparation programs.

Murillo also worked to promote academic preparedness on campus. As an intern in the Provost’s Office at Marshall, he recruited tutors for Preuss and Gompers Charter Middle School.

And later, at the urging of friends, he decided to run for Associated Students president – an office to which he was elected this April. He took office earlier this month.

“Leadership is in Marco’s blood,” said Preuss Principal Doris Alvarez. “I am so happy to see that he will continue to use his energy, creativity and passion for social change.”

-- Story courtesy of UCSD

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