Humans of Pinole Valley: Arturo Pizano

Arturo+Pizano+is+a+junior+at+Pinole+Valley+High+School.+

Photo by Sara Molina

Arturo Pizano is a junior at Pinole Valley High School.

“When I was born, my mom was 19, and my dad was 21-22. Which led to my grandpa telling him that he had to join the workforce to support me and my mom. So he did that. He still works at Kennedy High, it’s his 25th year working there. I came from a different school, Northgate in Walnut Creek. I live with my dad now, this is my first time ever living with him, and it’s interesting, the conversion of living with my mother to my father.  It was a tough first week. You know those cement cube things by the door? I used to sit there alone, and just like, talk to one of my friends from my old school. I used to call them. Until I started saying I need to be more social. So that’s how I became more social. Interesting to see Pinole, it’s a whole different mood. My aunt went to college, but my parents didn’t graduate from high school. So my parents want me to go to college. I was planning to major in political science, or law, get a minor in psych, take the bar exam, go into law school, and become a public attorney. Because what motivates me to become a public attorney may sound cringy, but… Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad influences me a lot because he’s really cool. There’s also Criminal Minds and… what’s that TV show? I can’t think of it right now. My aunt went to UC Berkeley, she got a scholarship right after high school. She’s the real educated one in the family, and she pushes me to be better than her. She wants me to achieve more than she has. She wants me to go to UC Berkeley, or any UC, so I can get a good education and a career so I don’t have to work as hard as my grandfather did or how my dad’s doing right now. I look up to her a lot”