Cesar Garibaldo has supported his own academic endeavors since he was 12 years old. Now the rest of the nation is noticing.
Photo by Jean Dixon
Student named one of top 35 Latino business students in nation
Business student Cesar Garibaldo shares his national recognition with University President Milt Glick, left, and Kambiz Raffiee, associate dean of the College of Business. Photo by Theresa Danna-Douglas.
November 20, 2009
By Claudene Wharton
Not much slows down Cesar Garibaldo. But, on Friday, Nov. 13, the high-achieving senior business student with seemingly boundless energy stood still, just for moment, stunned.
Garibaldo walked into University of Nevada President Milton Glick’s office, thinking he was going to have a few photos snapped with the President, because of his most recent outstanding achievement: being named one of the top 35 Latino business students in the country by the Hispanic College Fund.
But, when he walked into the President’s office, he was greeted not only by the President, but also by several of his College of Business professors and administrators, his Hug High School teacher and mentor Terrie Camenisch, Hug High Principal Andy Kelly, television reporters and others.
President Glick and College of Business Associate Dean Kambiz Raffiee offered a few words of high praise and high expectations.
“It’s been a long climb, and you’re going to do a lot bigger things than you’ve already done,” Glick said confidently.
Then, the President turned the floor over to Garibaldo, who, still having that deer-in-the-headlights look, uttered, “Wow, I’m a little bit overwhelmed. You tricked me. I would have worn a suit.”
The personable dual accounting and information systems major soon returned to his confident, energetic, yet humble self, thanking his mentors and professors. He commented on being chosen as one of the top 35 Hispanic business students in the country, and the week he just spent in Washington D.C. at the Karen Marquez Institute as a reward. The Institute’s professional development program included workshops and presentations by some of the country’s top corporate CEOs committed to workforce diversity, including Lockheed Martin, MasterCard and many others.
“This last week in Washington, D.C. was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” he said, taking his hands out of his black wool overcoat to gesture enthusiastically. “It really changed my life.”
Garibaldo had earned $19,000 in scholarships from the Hispanic College Fund in his four years at the University, being chosen as one of the top 500 students of the 40,000 who applied for the scholarships each year. However, this is the first year that he was chosen as one of the country’s top 35 scholars.
“It was really an honor,” he said. “I’m proud to have been selected and to have been able to represent my school.”
Garibaldo said he had the opportunity to network with CEOs, U.S. senators and congressmen, and, “the other scholars, who were phenomenal.”
He was able to set up a couple of interviews he will have in the next few weeks with top corporations such as Ernst & Young and General Dynamics. In addition, the scholars were each assigned mentors, who will continue working with them to help them achieve their future goals. Garibaldo’s mentor, a vice president for Wells Fargo Bank, has promised to help Garibaldo achieve his next goal – going on to get his Ph.D. – at Harvard, of course.
Harvard actually doesn’t seem like much of stretch for Garibaldo, who has been supporting himself since he was 16 years old, earned a 3.8 GPA and Millennium Scholarship at Hug High School, and is on the Dean’s list at Nevada’s College of Business with a 3.7 overall GPA, and a 4.0 GPA within his majors.
“He’s unstoppable,” said accounting and information systems professor Michael Ekedahl. “He’s one of those students who puts a smile on a teacher’s face. He’s just a treasure.”
Garibaldo says that Ekedahl has been a role model for him and motivated him. “He’s always seen potential in me, since my freshman year,” he said.
Garibaldo says Ekedahl and fellow accounting and information systems professor Dana Edberg, who shares Garibaldo’s passion for database design, have inspired him to perhaps change his ultimate career goal.
“When I originally started college, I wanted to join corporate America, be a businessman," he said. “I wanted to work in a top-ranked executive position. But, after seeing professors here, like professor Edberg and professor Ekedahl, now I eventually want to be a professor. They just really inspired me and made a huge impact on my life. I want to be able to motivate young people like that.”
Top business student Cesar Garibaldo is joined by his College of Business professors Michael Ekedahl, Dana Edberg, Yvonne Stedham and Kambiz Raffiee during a recent ceremony in President Milton Glick’s office. Photo by Theresa Danna-Douglas.
Garibaldo has already served as a tutor and mentor to other students, stating, “I enjoy seeing them succeed and just seeing them learn.”
Soon to be the first college graduate in his family, he credited Camenisch and the time she spent with him at Hug High for making him believe that he could actually attend college.
“It didn’t seem feasible,” he said, “but she encouraged me, and I thank her every day for that,” he said. “She told me that once you have an education, no one can take that away from you.”
Besides helping Garibaldo navigate his way to college, Camenisch started an accounting class at Hug, just for him, teaching him during her free period.
“She got me my first internship, while I was still a junior in high school,” he said, “doing accounting at Western Nevada Supply.”
Garibaldo has since went on to complete several other internships, including one at J.P. Morgan back East, where he says he was the first student they recruited from the West coast.
“They have always recruited students from the East and the Ivy League schools, so it was a real honor for them to have chosen me,” he said.
He’ll be doing an internship at Microsoft here in Reno this spring, and then hopes to be off to the Silicon Valley for a summer internship he has applied for with Google.
“It’s always been my dream to work for Google,” he said.
Garibaldo is certainly not short on dreams – a challenging double major at Nevada, a Ph.D. at Harvard, an internship at Google, and eventually, becoming a University professor – at Nevada, we hope.
“I wouldn’t mind coming back here to teach one day,” he smiled.
Garibaldo has called Reno home since he was 12 years old, after his mother decided to move the family from Los Angeles, concerned with the neighborhood and violence there. He spent the first four years of his life in Mexico.
“My mother’s struggles helped me to succeed,” he said.
Garibaldo says he has worked two jobs most of his time in college, but was able to save up enough money working two internships this summer, at J.P. Morgan and the University’s Business Environmental Program, that he didn’t have to work this school year.
“It’s been great because I got to participate in school activities and community service projects, and just enjoy my last year,” he said.
He is determined to make things a little easier for his two younger brothers.
“I’m helping them out and I will help them out financially so they can go to college,” he said. “I don’t want them to have to worry about all the things I had to worry about.”
He certainly doesn’t appear worried anymore, his eyes lighting up when he talks about each goal, each dream, each opportunity, as though it was the one of his life. For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Cesar Garibaldo, President Glick’s prediction for him, “You’re going to do a lot bigger things than you’ve already done,” isn’t just a prediction, it’s a certainty.