Local high school graduate will be headed to Ivy League school 

IDAHO FALLS — One Idaho Falls teen who recently graduated from high school is headed to a prestigious Ivy League college and plans to become an immigration attorney.  

Steven Gaxiola Urias, 17, graduated from Skyline High School on Tuesday at the Mountain America Center. In August, he will attend Yale University in Connecticut. 

“I want to go to Yale and study political science. Then, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to explore different majors and careers. I would love to go to law school and then pursue politics and hopefully run for office one day,” Gaxiola Urias said. “I would love to be an immigration attorney and then potentially run for senator or representative later.”

Gaxiola Urias was born in Utah and grew up moving between Mexico and the United States. He moved to Idaho Falls with his family about seven years ago. 

He has been very successful in school. He explained his mom has motivated him and where he has lived. 

“I grew up in a really poor area in Mexico (and went to) a really poor school. I think just seeing all of those things definitely made me, when I moved to the U.S., want to achieve higher education because I feel like everyone didn’t do that,” he said. 

He’s had straight A’s throughout high school and said he ended with a 4.25 GPA. 

“I took the most advanced classes they offered. I was a part of a lot of clubs. I was part of the National Honor Society. I did that for three years. I did speech and debate, which was my biggest extracurricular. I’m going to nationals for it this summer,” he said. 

He’s also participated in community service like for local women’s shelters, kid’s shelters, and humanitarian centers. 

His family is proud of him. Gaxiola Urias has six siblings, and he is the second in his family to graduate from high school, but will be the first to go to college. 

According to Yale Daily News, the university admitted 4.59 percent of applicants recently. It admitted 2,308 applications from a pool of 50,227 to the class of 2029, the article said. Gaxiola Urias had to be a part of a lot of essays and interviews in order to get in. 

“I always knew growing up as a first-generation college student in America that I wanted to get a good education, and then I always knew that I wanted to go to a good school. I applied and got in, and it was just really cool,” he said. 

He has accomplished an incredible feat and received a full-ride scholarship. He’s never been to the East Coast or visited the school, but he’s looking forward to it. 

EastIdahoNews.com asked his mother, Wendy Urias, about how proud she is of her son. She spoke in Spanish, and Gaxiola Urias translated. 

“She said that she was in disbelief. When I got into Yale, it was all very surreal and just disbelief, but when she saw me run to her and crying, it just felt like all the culmination of hard work had been achieved. She said all the late nights, sacrifices and setbacks finally make sense and that she is very proud of me,” he translated for his mom. 

Gaxiola Urias added he believes anyone can achieve what they want to and that he thinks people can be whatever they want to be. 

“I just think I’m excited to begin this new chapter, find myself, and become more independent,” he said.