Outstanding Grad: Jesus Perez-Orozco, College of Health and Human Sciences 14 Dec, 2020 Jesus Perez Orozco When his family moved to the United States from Mexico, Jesus Perez-Orozco started second grade at a Denver elementary school not knowing any English. “The first few months were very tough,” he says. “Even asking to go to the bathroom was scary. I don’t know how I passed second grade, to be honest. I just did the best I could.” Now Perez-Orozco is graduating with a degree in construction management from Colorado State University, and he credits his family with giving him that opportunity. Soon after he was born in Michoacán, Mexico, his father was granted permanent U.S. residency, and the family relocated to Long Beach, California. But when his uncle got robbed and beaten outside the apartment complex where they lived, Perez-Orozco’s parents moved the family back to Mexico because it felt safer. After a few years, his parents decided to return to the U.S. because they wanted Jesus to learn English like his older sisters had done in California.