Alumni Spotlight: Alejandro Aguilar ’10

We chatted with Alejandro Aguilar '10 about what he has been up to since graduation and how he is continuing his education in a Doctorate program for becoming a Doctor of Physical Therapy.
What have you been doing since Graduation?   
 
Since June of 2010, I continue to be a student till this day. I’ll discuss this a little later.
 
What was your college experience like?
 
I was fortunate enough to attend USC in the fall of 2010, right after graduating from Sierra Canyon a few months beforehand. It is still one of the best experiences I have had in my life. It challenged me in all areas of life, everything from being better at critical thinking as a student to maturing into a goal-driven adult. Those four years really added to the diligent and “dream big mentally” I still have till this day. I graduated from USC in 2014 with a Bachelors in Exercise Science. I decided my sophomore year in college that I wanted to be a physical therapist and I did everything I needed to do and more to be accepted into the program I am now in.
 
What are you doing now? 

I am currently a second year Doctor of Physical Therapy student at Western University of Health Sciences located in Pomona, Ca.  am also engaged to my fiancé Keila. We met in church at the age of 5 and started dating while he at Sierra Canyon. We went on to focus on our own individual career paths and reconnected in 2015.
 
Where are you hoping to go in life or be in 5 or 10 years? 

I aspire to be the best clinician I can be to both make an impact in people’s lives from a movement standpoint but also as people. This aspiration and dream is what has me owning my own outpatient practice in the next 7-10 years. I will continue to work hard to make my dream a reality. Furthermore, I do hope to somehow give back to Sierra Canyon with the skills I am currently developing in school.
 
What was your SC experience like?  Were their teachers, courses, activities at SC that had an impact on you. 
 
I absolutely loved my Sierra Canyon experience. It was a huge transition at first since I had attended the public-school system up until the 8th grade, so transitioning to my small class of 36 was a huge shocker. I automatically wanted to get involved so I joined the first ever football team and also played basketball. I still remember the first SC football picture with all 15 of us and to see how the team and school has grown is remarkable. I had a few teachers who really helped me while I was there. Alison Brown, who is now no longer with the program but served as the Dean of students for a few years, definitely made a huge impact on me and helped me become the student I am today. Her patience and guidance helped develop me to the student I still am today. I have always stayed in contact with her and she attended my USC graduation and told me that day that she would attend my DPT graduation whenever and wherever that may be. Another teacher that impacted me was definitely Thomas J. Fennell, I still remember the first day I met him, as I was with my mother interviewing for the school and he greeted us in Spanish. My mother and I fell in love with the welcoming vibe that just “Fennell” presented. I had plenty of great discussions with Mr. Fennell about life, European history and about the hundreds of languages he can speak which made school enjoyable. Though, sometimes European history was hard to stay awake in but that is a personal problem, I suppose.
 
Do you still keep in touch with SC classmates and is that important to you?

 I do still keep in touch with a few of my Sierra buddies, as I always call them. One of them will for sure be a groomsman in my upcoming wedding in a few years and remains one of my best friends, David Liberman ‘10. He is finishing up dental school on the east coast and we still have the same relationship that was started at Sierra, then continued at USC and still remains despite us being on opposite sides of the nation.
 
What advice would you give to our current students, especially, seniors who are facing college choices and other choices about their future? 
 
The advice I would give to current students and seniors with college choices and beyond is simple. See what the college offers you in all areas, not just academics. Let college shape you as a well-balanced adult and have fun along the way. Grow, dream, and maximize your time there, since it is something that fly’s by just like the years at Sierra Canyon. With regards to the future and days beyond college, I’ll say something I always say and believe. Dream big. Make sure your dreams seem crazy to others. Once they do, strive to accomplish those dreams and then set new ones. Live from one chapter to the next and do not fear for the future. 
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Middle and Upper School: 20801 Rinaldi Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311  | 818.882.8121
Sierra Canyon School is a private, independent, non-sectarian, co-educational, college preparatory school for students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12 located in Chatsworth, California. The highly cosmopolitan campus community is reflective of the Greater Los Angeles area and the world at large. Students are empowered to realize their greatest creative, ethical, intellectual and physical promise through small class sizes, a diverse student-teacher culture and a family-like environment.