By Cyndee Fontana-Ott
In fall 2021, Juan Molinero arrived at Fresno Pacific University as a first-generation student with ambition but no firm career path.
The Buchanan High School (Clovis) graduate grew up picking fruit with his parents and had never traveled beyond his home state. Through the many opportunities at FPU, Molinero’s eyes opened to a world of possibilities—so much so that he now aspires to the international stage.
A semester abroad in Uruguay, along with the guidance of university professors, helped cement his academic plan. Molinero, a senior University Scholar studying international relations and history, is considering law school after he completes a bachelor’s degree in May 2025.
“My goal is to become a diplomat, and I feel law school is one of the better paths that people take,” he says.
Such an expansive career choice might have been unimaginable a few years ago. Molinero, the oldest son of Mexican immigrants, only took his first trip outside California in college, when he and a group of other Fresno Pacific students represented Armenia at the Model United Nations in Boston.
Soccer, family, culture
Yet even as a boy, Molinero was intrigued by other cultures and countries. Part of that was influenced by his interest in soccer—notably Uruguayan teams—but much of his curiosity was rooted in family.
“My parents were immigrants, and even though they are from the same country, they are very different,” he says. His father, who passed away in 2023, was from Michoacán and his mother from Oaxaca. Molinero could see differences in food, culture, dialect and more between the two Mexican states.
As a sophomore at FPU, Molinero found the guidance needed to nurture an academic and career direction. One adviser was W. Marshall Johnston, Ph.D., director of the honors program, who encouraged him to travel and outlined the opportunities available to students.
“That got me more excited about college because at the time, I was kind of dragging myself through,” says Molinero. “I wasn’t excited about anything.”
According to Johnston, “he began to combine his interests well when he went to Model UN two years ago, and that made him yearn to spend more time in other contexts learning about the world.” He is hopeful Molinero and a Uruguayan student will share their experiences in a university culture night.
“He is doing brilliant work on football (soccer) as a way of understanding international relations,” Johnston says. “He is an earnest young man who appreciates the sacrifices his mom has made for him, and we in the FPU community were glad that we could support him when his dad passed.”
Molinero says he has always wanted the experience of visiting other countries. His interest in soccer—and especially the soccer teams of Uruguay, the country that won the first World Cup—fueled a desire to travel there.
“Uruguay has always been a country that I was fascinated with,” he says. “I would always watch documentaries on it and read about it. But just being there for that small amount of time made me learn more about Uruguay than a lifetime of reading and study.”
Living the dream
For the spring 2024 semester, Molinero spent several months in Uruguay as a student at Universidad ORT in the coastal, capital city of Montevideo. He immersed himself in culture, arts, architecture, sports and history.
“It got me out of a difficult time too, because the semester before my father passed away,” he says. “It was hard being away at times but there was always something going on in the city.”
Molinero arrived during the lengthy carnival and the 300th anniversary celebration of the founding of Montevideo. It was also a presidential election year; Uruguayans aged 18 and older are required to vote. Molinero saw the campaigns of multiple parties vying for support and news coverage of people waiting in long lines to register or obtain documents allowing them to vote.
In Montevideo, Molinero stayed with a host mother—she called him another grandson—in the colorful Barrio Sur neighborhood, where he often heard someone practicing the drums in between carnival activities.
He explored the city by bus and on foot, visiting churches and museums while soaking up the lessons and culture of a diverse group of professors. Molinero learned about yerba mate, the social and traditional tea of Uruguay, and took in several soccer matches, including one at Estadio Centenario, the iconic century-old stadium. He also traveled into Argentina.
During his time abroad, he was struck by Uruguayans’ friendliness and the country’s parallels to Mexico. In the United States, Molinero says, “it’s really rare to just have a stranger walk up to you and just strike up a conversation. There, it was very common.”
Also, “I was surprised how similar it was to Mexican culture,” he says. “I was surprised how similar the architecture is, how the culture is just really similar and some of the foods are the same—and of course, they speak Spanish too.”
Life-changes
Time in Uruguay has been life-changing on a personal level, Molinero says. He is more social and willing to talk to someone he doesn’t know, for example.
He encourages other students to travel, and so does Johnston. “Study abroad so nicely carries out the mission of our Anabaptist founders to learn about all of God's children, and to be citizens of the Kingdom,” Johnston says.
Molinero says the time he spent in Uruguay helped him grow. “It opened my eyes to not go someplace and expect people to be a certain way, act in a certain way…We all have our differences but we’re also similar in a way.”’