Age: 25 years-old
Ethnicity: Nicaraguan mixed
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 175 lbs.
 
Likes: Surfing, kickboxing, swimming and running
Favorite Food: “I love food, put it that way.  Seafood..I love to eat in ‘hole-in-the wall’ places…there are so many in Los Angeles, that is where the flavor of the foods are so great.”
 

Photo: Lorenzo Gomez

Favorite Actor: Brad Pitt – “Because he rocked-out in Fight Club.” I loved the book, then when I saw the move, I said wow!”
 
Favorite Music: “Anything but Country.”  “I just never felt it.  I’m not really down with the cowboy thing and the dysfunctional relationships they sing about in their songs.”
 
Favorite Band: The Doors – Classic Rock Group.  “They were ahead of their time.”
 
Born: In the Echo Park Community of Los Angeles at Queen of Angeles Hospital
 
Attends: San Diego State University
 
His Goals: John is near completion of a Master’s Program in Social Psychology, with a concentration in Influence and Persuasion.  He hopes to eventually acquire a Ph.D., some day become a professor, teach, conduct research and write books.
 
Adelante:  What makes people tick?
John: “Basically, their desires…the things they want.”
 
Adelante: Why do you believe you would be good in this field?
John:  “Because most of us are good at the things which we are pre-disposed or pre-inclined to do.  I think I’ve known this is what I wanted to do since I was young.  What will make me particularly successful is that I have always had the interest, the motivation for the work and I find people interesting.”
 
Adelante: What’s interesting about people to you?
John:  “Just the complexity of human behavior.  To ‘predict’ human behavior and to have a sense of why people do the things they do in life.  It gives us a good understanding of the type of individuals on the planet with us.”
Adelante: You’re a model and actually very smart.  Would you say that brains are just as important as good looks?
John: “Oh, yea.  Often those that are good looking have learned in life to rely on their good looks to get them by…but I tend to rely on my intelligence to get me by.”
 
“Intelligence and education are important.  This because although you may look good, does anyone really want to be around those that are boring or lack interests in life?   I think people that are intelligent and educated know that.  So, they become the type of people that others want to be around.”
 
Adelante: What are the major challenges for this country? 
John: “I believe it’s people’s thinking…a lot of times people live in boxes and develop limitations by believing the odds in life are against them.  But if you really want something, it is possible.  Look at president-elect Barak Obama; he grew up a poor ‘welfare-child’ and look where he is today.  Others are born with a lot, but go nowhere.”
 
Adelante: What causes that?
John: “It comes from a lot of social sources…perhaps parents that don’t encourage their children to go after their heart’s desires because they are trying to protect them.  Often, parents encourage their kids to pursue things which are more ‘practical’…they don’t want to see their kids fail, so they have them set lower goals.  That is harmful.”
 
Adelante: How do we change this?
John: “That’s one of the reasons I want to be a teacher…because by helping children believe they can do whatever they want when they
are young can cause incredible change.”