Ricardo Rubio and his family immigrated to the United States when he was 15 years old. Ricardo's parents began working as janitors with ABM Industries Inc. servicing Cisco in San Jose, California. Like many immigrant families who speak little English, the Rubio's faced financial and linguistic challenges to accessing opportunities to integration and a higher education.
Despite these barriers and new responsibilities as a parent, Ricardo persevered, enrolled in community college and began his journey to become an engineer. Ricardo's father, a participant in BSP's worksite classes at Cisco, introduced him to BSP's college access programs and the Mike Garcia Scholarship.
Ricardo received the Mike Garcia Scholarship for two consecutive years, just as he transferred to San Jose State University (SJSU) to pursue his B.S. in engineering. The Mike Garcia Scholarship not only helped relieve financial stress and income volatility for Ricardo and his family, but helped him earn his Bachelors in Engineering. Ricardo now works for the City of San Jose as an engineer in the Sanitation Department and is in the process of earning his masters in Engineering from SJSU. BSP is proud to pave a pathway to educational success and stability for first-generation students and children of janitors.
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