Pioneer Valley High School student Steven Cervantes won the agricultural mechanics design and fabrication proficiency state champion award at the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Leadership Conference on May 19.
Cervantes’ metalworking career began when he was a child, according to a press release from Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. He started at his family’s business, Shorty’s Welding, in his youth, and he’s since developed a talent for designing and fabricating metal projects for Santa Maria’s agriculture industry.
Cervantes said in the press release that he was proud of the award, and that it made him feel like he could achieve anything he wanted.
“My father, I know, would be very proud of me for accomplishing this achievement,” he said in the release. “He came into this country as an immigrant working in the fields and soon was able to be the American dream and own his own shop and do what he loves.”
Cervantes will next learn if he qualifies as a finalist for the Western region, which would put him in the competition for the national championships in Indianapolis, Ind., in October.
“Steven is a hardworking man,” Cervantes’ friend Saul Rodriguez said in the release. “Someone who can achieve anything he wants to achieve, and I am proud to know him my whole life and see him become the man he is.”
This article appears in May 25 – Jun 1, 2017.