As a child of immigrants, Rafael Roldan has endured many eye-opening scenarios that have molded him into the unproblematic, unbothered, yet caring person he is today.  By getting a home, after living in apartments until the age of nine, he has seen his parents thrive and has captivated that same mindset.

“There’s always ambition, but no struggle, but when there was, I thank God we’ve persevered through it,” he said.

Currently, he cannot complain, there are no struggles; everything is available. Because of this and with the fact that his parents have surpassed several difficulties, it was a humbling experience visiting Mexico because he was able to see hard working people and how modest they are about their lives.

“They practically live by the day and encounter real struggles,” he said. For this, he is proud of his ethnicity because the Latino culture shows a lot of unity and pride in what they do.

By comparing his friends issues and experiences to his, Rafael has become more mature and less worried about the issues he faces because people have it worse.  He handles stress by simply ignoring it, but does not consider himself selfish.

“When there is a will, there’s a way,” he said. “There is always going to be someone with a need of help and when society ignores these issues, poverty, drug addiction, and mental illnesses come into place.”

Of course everyone has encountered struggles throughout their life, including Rafael himself. He has tolerated being financially unstable and family problems, such as potential divorce. However, he did not let these problems affect him because they shouldn’t have an impact on the way he is. Instead, Rafael is more independent and able to rely on himself when he is in a situation. Nevertheless, his parents’ support is the only thing he needs.

“I am afraid of losing my parents,” he said, “because I am not ready for the world and I have yet to learn.”

Rafael describes himself as determined, perseverant, and ambitious. When he sets his mind to do something he does it, yet is ambitious because he never wants to settle; he always wants something more.

His ambition during high school is to get his license for real estate at the age of seventeen and after learn to trade stocks to then own a mass variety of homes throughout the United States. By doing so, he hopes to help his parents retire and relocate them into a stress-free city with everything paid for.

Rafael wants to pursue his career in Residential and Commercial Real Estate because he likes seeing the happiness people portray when buying a new home and likes the beauty of the different styles and the architecture of homes. Reflecting on financial and family problems, he wants to become a real estate agent to see the joy, as to those families, taking the next step into facing what life has in store for them.

To Rafael, Mr. Cardinal is a gateway towards making a significant impact on his community. Mr. Cardinal has changed his perspective on his community.

“It is an eye opening experience to see the struggles that I once faced.” He said, “There is so much more to this community that society lacks to assist.”

Rafael would like to help these current problems by first showing the catastrophic problems San Bernardino has and could improve on. “The problems people face are crucial but society doesn’t tend to care about the issues as they should and outreach groups can do so much.”

He hopes that by participating in Mr. Cardinal, he can get more connected to the community and establish great relationships with people while also getting out of his comfort zone. With being a productive person by playing sports such as basketball, soccer and now tennis, while also gaming, Rafael has contributed in helping the city of San Bernardino. Community activities Rafael assists in are: helping at food pantries, assisting teachers at elementary schools, helping at school festivals, picking up trash at our school on the weekends, and giving any donations possible.