It didn’t matter that Manuela Rodriguez and Randy Manzanares graduated from Fremont High School 70 years apart from one another; the two instantly connected when they met for the first time this month.
Randy, 17, of Sunnyvale, was the 2014 recipient of the Rodriguez Family Scholarship, given annually to a senior at Fremont High.
The $5,000 prize is awarded to a senior who has attended Fremont High since freshman year, has a grade point average of 3.0 or above, provided outstanding service to the high school and the surrounding community and is known for having school spirit.
This year’s scholarship is the 13th to be awarded.
High school sweethearts and members of the FHS Class of 1944, Manuela and her late husband, Faustino “Tino” Rodriguez, dreamed of creating a family scholarship. Over many years they put away their savings, eventually exceeding $100,000. Faustino Rodriguez passed away in 2010 at the age of 85.
“Tino and I didn’t have the luxury of going to college, but the education we got at Fremont High School got us far,” said Manuela Rodriguez. “Tino always said education is the most important thing in a kid’s life and that we should start a scholarship program and give back to somebody that can’t get to college on their own.”
Coming from modest means, the $5,000 means a great deal, Randy said. He will be attending California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo in the fall and will major in computer engineering.
During his time in high school, he was a member of the marching band and an AVID student for all four years. He also volunteered extensively at the school and in the community.
“It was surreal, to be honest, to meet the person behind the scholarship,” he said. “My whole family is so grateful.”
Manzanares also received a scholarship from the Sunnyvale Rotary Club during the Senior Awards Night in front of his friends and family.
When he finally got to meet Rodriguez, the two swapped stories about the school and campus life. He said it wasn’t the differences in their experiences that struck him, but the similarities.
“The people at Fremont and that spirit of community hasn’t changed,” Randy said. “It has always been a welcoming place to me, and the community here maintains that. Even though it is so much bigger now, the closeness is still there.”
Rodriguez said she was tickled pink to meet the young man, whose last name reminded her of a river that ran through her hometown in her native Spain.
“He is such a very nice young man and when we talked it was like we had known each other forever, which I loved because he was down to earth,” Rodriguez said. “I know he’s going to do well.”
To contribute to the Fremont High School Alumni Association scholarship program visit fhs.fuhsd.org.
