When Juan Tello Salinas was 17, he was arrested for attempted robbery.
A year later, the recent Santa Maria High grad was awarded a $500 college and career training scholarship by the Santa Barbara County Education Office.
“Your past does not have to decide your future,” Tello Salinas said, as he accepted the scholarship at a ceremony recently. “What matters most is what you choose to do next.”
Within a year, Tello Salinas went from taking classes at the Juvenile Justice Center in Santa Maria to transferring and graduating from Santa Maria High this past spring. His story caught the eye of the Joe Howell Scholarship committee, who unanimously selected him as its recipient.
“Juan genuinely presents the values that you want to recognize,” the scholarship’s namesake and retired county board of education member told the News-Press. “He has a specific goal, a future in the trades and a clear vision on how he wants to use his scholarship.”
Before the arrest, Tello Salinas was skipping class and getting lectured by his parents on hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Then, when he was arrested, Tello Salinas was forced to continue his high school education at Dos Puertas, a county school for students in the juvenile court system.
It upset Tello Salinas to see how much his arrest affected his parents.
The turning point was seeing his mother cry and the look on his sister’s face.
“I don’t want to put them in a situation where they have to worry about me,” Tello Salinas said in an interview with the News-Press.
He decided things would be different this time.
A teacher inside the juvenile courts saw Tello Salinas and recognized his potential. He told him he didn’t belong in that school.
“Doing the work that we do especially with students and juvenile hall can be a challenge sometimes,” Michael Fuentes, his teacher, said at the scholarship ceremony. “But then we get a student that we know shouldn’t be there…It makes it all worthwhile when we’re able to reach them and be able to talk to them about making changes in their life and continuing their education. And that’s what I saw in Juan.”
Fuentes got to know Tello Salinas over the past several months, and ultimately recommended him for the scholarship. He said Juan carried a responsibility in building a better future.
And not just for himself, but for his family.
“I grew up with both of my parents and I would always see them as hardworking people,” Tello Salinas said. “If there’s something that they can do to get extra money, they would do it. Now, I see them worrying about bills most of the time. That caught my attention.”
Tello Salinas plans to pursue a career as a plumber and use the $500 scholarship prize for training.
When Tello Salinas was applying for the scholarship, he had originally planned to attend Allen Hancock College, a community college in Santa Maria. But he felt like it wasn’t the right fit for him.
Then, he met a plumber at his school’s “Future Fridays,” where students can learn about various career paths. It piqued his interest when a plumber told him he could make $70 per hour after a few years of experience.
“Plumbing caught my attention because I could get a good pay rate,” Tello Salinas said. “I would like to help my family out and make life less stressful. I don’t want them worrying about the bills anymore and asking to borrow money sometimes.”
He described his mother, Auriela Salinas, as his main motivation.
“I just want to see her happy,” Tello Salinas said.
As the eldest sibling to a 16-year-old sister and 4-year-old brother, he also wants to set a better example for them.
“I don’t want them falling into the wrong path,” Tello Salinas said. “My brother, too – once he’s around my age, I don’t want him to do what I did and end up where I was.”
Tello Salinas hopes his story can motivate other young people who were once in his shoes.
“One mistake can’t define your whole life and future,” Tello Salinas said. “There’s always a different path you can choose. There’s no cost in dreaming.
