Rep. Raul Ruiz receives Outstanding Americans by Choice Recognition at alma mater

It was a crisp Friday morning at the home of the Mighty Arabs, where Coachella Valley High School's student leaders convened at the library to meet Representative Raúl Ruiz (CA-25). The gathering preceded a ceremony at the school's theater dedicated to honoring the alumnus with the Outstanding Americans by Choice recognition — presented by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Established in 2006 by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, the award recognizes significant contributions and achievements of naturalized American citizens.

Like the students, Ruiz once sported the school's green and gold letterman jacket. Like the students, he once served as a student council representative. In fact, Ruiz said, he was the first to serve as the student council president all four years of high school. And like many of the students, his aspirations of serving his community began early on.

For that reason, Ruiz elected to hold the ceremony at his alma mater as a way to thank the community for investing in him.

"If the country wants to give me this national recognition, I want to honor you (with it) because it's not about me," he said. "I owe everything of who I am ... to the whole (Coachella Valley) that opened my eyes to many things."

Right away, Ruiz alerted the students that they would witness history being made twice that day: Mayorkas' presence marked the inaugural visit of a member of the president's cabinet to the Thermal campus.

"The second reason why we're making history today is because of the esteemed guests we have from Indio High School (CVHS' athletic rivals)," Ruiz lightheartedly said, "and it's all good."

The captivated students listened attentively, rarely breaking eye contact, as Ruiz regaled them with anecdotes from his high school years. He recalled when the high school began offering AP classes and he and a classmate became the first in school history to pass the Advanced Placement U.S. History exams.

"Have you ever watched the movie 'Stand and Deliver'? Yeah, we thought were were all that," he said.

But Ruiz's life wasn't all smooth sailing.

Just months after he was born in Zacatecas City in Mexico, his biological mother died. The family tragedy led to his adoption — while still a baby — by his father's sister, Bianca, and her husband, Gilbert. Once adopted, Ruiz came to the U.S. with his new parents, where they raised him in Coachella.

Ruiz shared that he has yet to visit his place of birth. It wasn't until he was around 10 that he realized he wasn't born in the U.S., the only country he has ever considered home.

"I see myself in all of you and our story," he said to the students, some of whom identified as DREAMers. "My parents worked so hard and sacrificed so much to give us opportunities we never had."

When he struggled to afford his college application fees, his former guidance counselor, Rafael Barboza, stepped in to pay his fees.

"They call these barriers that students struggle to overcome 'risk factors,'" he said. "They start to look at that part of your history as something bad. I'm here to lift the narrative: to say that it's what makes you super powerful in accomplishing your dreams."

And when he finally had the opportunity, but not the financial means, to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, he solicited the small businesses of Coachella in an itchy oversized blue suit to raise money for his tuition. On his family's manual typewriter, he drew up a contract and invited his neighbors to invest what they could in him. In exchange for their financial support, his contract outlined that he would earn his medical degree and return to Coachella to serve as a doctor.

True to his word, he became the first Latino to receive three graduate degrees from Harvard University, including his promised medical degree, and returned home to serve as an emergency room doctor at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

At the official ceremony — where two students briefly and respectfully called for a ceasefire to "free Palestine" — Ruiz was surrounded by his family, friends, colleagues, promotores (self-taught community health workers) and select students who best represented the diverse programs the school offers. The event was simultaneously streamed live as the rest of the student body watched from their classrooms.

Seniors Derek Acosta and Luis Medina, who are enrolled in the health academy and engineering pathways, respectively, said they saw their own stories reflected in Ruiz.

Whether it was from the way the congressman described his relationships with his siblings to the way he was raised by parents who worked in the fields, the students said that they, too, hope to serve their community as Marines upon graduation so that they can one day pursue a higher education.

"If there's anything that you've taken from my story," he said, "it's that these challenges, no matter how hard they are, are not barriers or your weaknesses. Because of the pain and sacrifice of your family and your community ... you want to take all opportunity to meet those justices for everybody. You understand success already."

Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Rep. Raul Ruiz receives award at Coachella Valley High School