Proving the Impossible

Junior Lance Pascasio proves the greatest rewards come in time

With almost a 4.8 GPA, two jobs, and more admirable achievements, Oxnard High School junior Lance Pascasio is one of the many students on our campus who have risen above their struggles and accomplished their goals. Even after long nights of work, homework, and nearly no sleep, he still manages to work hard and have fun.

But his achievements also came with great heartache, as Pascasio left his native Philippines and mother in order to pursue his dreams. Pascasio said, “I truly loved my mother and all of my mother’s family since they were the ones that raised me.” Leaving his mother in the Philippines at the age of 10 was his biggest hardship to overcome. He had to leave in order to start a new life in the U.S. with his father’s side of the family.

“It was really difficult to live in a house that was filled with strangers and to adjust to the reality that those that raised me from the ground up were no longer holding my hands to guide me through life,” said Pascasio. After a six-year-long immigration process, he was finally able to reunite with his mother who now lives with him in the U.S. and dotes on him like she always wanted to.

Despite these hardships, Pascasio has had numerous high school accomplishments. He played volleyball at OHS for two years, has taken every Honors and AP (Advanced Placement) class he can, and has close to a 4.8 GPA. He currently works two jobs, one as a Homework Center tutor and one at Banana Republic, and is taking a course at Ventura College. On top of that, he holds the position of the Division News Editor for Key Club which is responsible for seven different Key Clubs in the county, and he is the Co-Founder of Young Investors’ Society, “a club founded in hopes of providing resources of savings, stock investment, and knowledge concerning the economy/stock market to the students.”

He had the amazing opportunity to attend a summer program at Yale University for Political Science and now hopes to go to an Ivy League college like Harvard, Columbia, or John Hopkins University. Currently, Lance has been accepted to a Harvard summer program and has applied to summer programs at UPenn, USC, MIT, and Princeton.

“Of course, I miss my family and I would love to see them again, but the opportunities granted to me here in the United States have opened up my life to almost an infinite amount of paths to take,” he said. His ability to endure hardship in pursuit of his goals inspire others to take another step forward towards one’s own personal goals.