Redwood Foundations, Stanford Aspirations: Bleedin’ Blue to Cardinal Red

Luci Ponce-Esquibel will embark on her post-Redwood plans at Stanford University. Through the ambition and persistence she has had within her high school career, she continues to strive towards excellence in her academic and personal endeavors.

By: Donya Hassanshahi

To achieve a goal, a person must be incentivized by an aspiration. Without a plan, an ambition is simply a dream.

The senior class of 2024 is two times the size of last year’s graduating class. These Rangers have impacted Redwood culture immensely throughout their four years. As their time comes to a close, students are faced with a question that can only be answered by themselves: what’s next?

Luci Ponce-Esquibel, ’24, was the only student at Redwood High School to be admitted to Stanford University, which she plans to attend this fall. Ponce aspires to pursue a field in politics with an interest in international relations.

During her high school career, Ponce was involved with the Future Business Leaders of America [FBLA] as the co-Vice President of community service and Treasurer for Generation Green. Outside of Redwood, she acted as the Central Section FBLA Secretary.

As for community service initiatives, her schedule consists of the: HEAL Project, Asian Pacific Islander, and REACT [Regional Advocates Countering Tobacco] nonprofit organizations. Through Neighborhood Church, she works with the College and Career Readiness program. “Upon learning about these organizations, they really showed me my passion about advocacy and social justice,” says Ponce.

How does one go about applying to a school like Stanford? Ponce knew what she wanted to achieve, and put her mind to it.

In her sophomore year, Ponce says that she was determined to attend Stanford University. Following junior year, she aspirated to attend USC, diverting her attention and energy towards that application process. Why did she apply to Stanford? Simply because of her best friend—who is enrolled in a high school in Lindsay. “The only reason that I applied was because my best friend was applying and he convinced me to apply so that we could go to school together,” she says.

Although she completed the application, Ponce says that the effort she put into it was “the bare minimum.” She says, “Once I did a little bit more research into the school, I found out it had a four percent acceptance rate and I figured the probability of me getting it was really low, so I didn’t want to put a lot of effort in and then be disappointed after.”

It was only when she performed her interview that her interests began to peak towards the school. Although doubtful of her capabilities to receive acceptance, Ponce says, “He had such a clear love for the campus and the environment he was in.”

For the college application process, Ponce says the key element is remaining true to oneself. “People tend to think that to get in you have to be this perfect candidate and you have to mark all of these boxes off. How I thought of it was ‘if it’s meant to be, it’s gonna happen.’ If you’re meant to go to that school, by showing your authentic self that school is going to recognize you as a person and they’re going to want you on their campus,” she says.

When she found out on March 29th, Ponce says she ran to her mom after she saw the confetti from the digital letter. She says her initial thought was “There’s no way,” but not only did she get it, but her best friend did too. “I think that’s so exciting because it means that I get to go to college with my best friend,” says Ponce.

Throughout her high school experience, Ponce was heavily involved. She says, “I’m really biased towards being more community involved because there is so much here in Visalia that people don’t really know about.” During her sophomore year, Ponce passed a policy in Visalia to make a buffer zone between tobacco shops and youth-orientated areas after a shop had opened near Houston Elementary. Having attended Houston, she says, “These are kids with ages ranging from five to ten years old and they’re about a two-minute walk from drugs and alcohol. Houston is already a rough area, and the addition of this shop made it worse.” Now, Visalia requires a 1000 ft buffer zone to prevent shops from operating near churches, parks, and schools.

Investing yourself in extracurriculars and your educational career is a necessary component to being successful in your personal endeavors.

“Branch out, try a bunch of different things. I did a lot of other organizations, some of them stuck some different, but I don’t regret any of them because they all taught me something. I learned different aspects of myself and my community.”

Luci Ponce-Esquibel, ’24

Without involving herself in community organizations, Ponce may have never found her “passion for public speaking.” After passing the policy, she says, “I absolutely loved it and that’s what got me into the political world. Even though that was really scary, I was a sophomore when I did that, it was really frightening to speak in front of city council members and talk to them as if they were wrong.”

Having undertaken numerous academic and personal curiosities, Ponce says, “Don’t let people’s ideas get to you because, at the end of the day, no one cares that much. Be nicer to yourself. Senior year, I’ve really come to appreciate all of the effort that I’ve done throughout my high school career and just the work I’ve done in general to better myself, my family, [and] my community.”

Within her application, Mr. Jacob Avila, Mrs. Elizabeth Forsythe, Mr. Calvin Cole, and Mr. Austin Arruda crafted Ponce’s letters of recommendation to contribute to her application.

Arruda is a second-year teacher at Redwood. He teaches five periods of Chemistry. Last year, Ponce was in his sixth-period class.

With this being his first year of writing letters of recommendation for prior students, he says the opportunity to write for Ponce “genuinely filled me with joy. It was really cool because this is my second year teaching and this is my first real year doing letters of rec for some of my students last year, so to see how excited she was getting into Stanford and to be able to be a part of that little journey was honestly super satisfying.”

When writing her letter, Arruda says he integrated her leadership skills in and outside of the classroom. “Her personality is very unique. She’s herself one hundred percent of the time. She’s not afraid of what other people think and she’s always willing to help others. She puts her learning first and then she’s like super unselfish about sharing that knowledge with others as well,” he says.

Considering Ponce’s performance as a student last year, Arruda says that she was one of his top students. During class, “She always incorporated laughing and she wanted to make learning a good time.” As a teacher of five consecutive chemistry periods, “When you have someone who is so encouraged to learn and also has a good time with it, it makes it refreshing,” says Arruda.

Mr. Calvin Cole is in his seventh year of counseling at Redwood for sophomores with last names M-Z.

He recalls meeting Ponce during her sophomore year—the year students returned to in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic. “When I first met her her sophomore year, her personality and all that, I just knew something was special about this individual. I knew good things were going to happen for her as she got older,” says Cole.

It’s just crazy how you feel with certain kids, and she was one of those one’s that you definitely felt that. She doesn’t make excuses. She sets out goals. She just goes for it.”

Mr. Calvin Cole

Over the span of his career, Cole has been acquainted with numerous students. “So far, in my seven years, two people stick out in my mind. One graduated last year, and she’s graduating this year. Out of the hundreds of thousands of kids that I’ve met with, I think that I’m going to remember her for a very long time,” he says.

Cole says that “a sense of honor” is associated with students asking for letters of recommendation. When Ponce went to him, he says, “There is a sense of pressure. I know what her goals are, so I want to make sure that it’s a good letter and I felt pretty honored that she was asking me out of all the people that she could ask, knowing what her goals are and that they’re pretty high—that she trusted me to write his this letter. When she got in, I was excited for her and her future, and I hope that whatever she’s doing now that it carries on.”

Forsythe was Ponce’s AP English and Language Composition [AP LANG] teacher during her junior year.

When Ponce asked for a letter of recommendation from Forsythe, she says, “It’s always an honor for students to ask you to write a letter of rec because that means they respect you and they think that what you have to say is very valuable.”

She says, “It’s amazing watching students find their path, and Luci in particular—she’s just kind of this warm, loving soul. To watch her be able to spread her wings and fly to where she really wants to be, it’s such an honor. As a teacher, you just want your students to succeed and do something amazing with that.”

Given Ponce’s fondness towards helping others, Forsythe says, “Her little group, we talked all the time, and seeing how she cares about people and how that’s moving on into what she wants to do in life, I think that she wants to go into politics and help everyone else in the world. I can’t wait to watch her succeed.”

Lizzette Ponce-Esquibel, ’26 is the youngest of her three sisters. As the youngest sister, she says, “It’s sad to see [Luci] go away.” At Redwood, she is involved with FBLA and dance.

When Luci found out about her Stanford admission, Lizzette says, “I think I was in the car and she was like, ‘Oh yeah I got in,’ and I was like, ‘What? Hold up, give me a second. Wow.’ “

I felt proud of her. I know she always strived to be the best she can, and it’s good to see that she got in.

Lizzette Ponce-Esquibel, ’26 on her initial reaction to Luci’s acceptance.

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