Image courtesy to Nathaniel Almazon

Fuentes walks with Connor Alvarez on the field.

Andrew Fuentes, #40, a varsity player on the Segerstrom High School Football team, tackles daily life as a modern-day scholar and athlete.

Entering high school, Fuentes was determined to make a change in life by setting his path for the future he imagined himself succeeding. Although struggling in his first year due to the setback of COVID-19, he eventually got a feeling of where he wanted to be. But towards the end and reopening of school, he saw a chance and immediately took it.

“I want people to know me as someone who’s always gone after it,” says Fuentes. “It’s like a saying our coach says, ‘Let’s get after it today at practice.’ Following that mindset, Fuentes decided to choose the scholar-athlete lifestyle.

“I wanted to join a sport, stand out, and be [well-rounded] as a student,” says Fuentes with confidence. He then explains the choice of playing football is to connect with his older brother, Ruben Fuentes, who graduated from Segerstrom in the Class of 2022. Although Ruben quit just a few days later, the brothers still shared memories that allowed Fuentes to continue throughout his years at Segerstrom.

“It really is just the brothers and family that you make there because you’re there for four years, being yelled at by coach, dying [at] each practice, winning and losing each game together,” he explains.

As the years go by, Fuentes experiences some difficulties in his academics. He describes sophomore year as “the most rough time” in high school. The challenge of having multiple Advanced Placement and honors classes, managing the Robotics Club, the Engineering Special Projects (ESP) club, events with the California Scholarship Federation (CSF), and Simon Scholars was extremely busy.

“I was in varsity, [so] there was more of a time commitment and I didn’t want to mess up because I could lose my spot,” Fuentes explains. Fuentes still tackles the fight to be an honorable scholar athlete both on and off the field. He hopes to finish off the year with many memories and a true story to tell.

Danny Luna a family friend, admires Fuente’s work in football. “Yeah, he has a pretty stressful life, but somehow still has a good personality at the end of the day.”