Creating a Family Legacy through an Endowment
A version of this story appeared in the May 2022 edition of Triton magazine, now UC San Diego Magazine.
When summertime approached San Diego’s Hoover High School in the mid-1960s, and students started talking about their vacation plans, Jorge Carrillo ’72 remembers being silent. He already knew where he’d be heading, the same place he and his family always went: up to central California where they worked in the fields, first picking peaches and raspberries in the town of Selma, then on to Hollister and Gilroy for apricots and garlic, and finally back down through Fresno harvesting grapes for wine and raisins.
Today, Carrillo recalls this migrant work with pensive objectivity, recounting the difficulty of that life and the dismal conditions. He remembers working a minimum of 10 hours a day, six days a week and often in 90- to 100-degree heat; living in campsites; cooking over a fire; and sleeping in tents or an occasional shed.
The annual odyssey provided Carrillo with an enduring friend group and introduced him to his lifelong companion, Raquel Salazar Carrillo ’72. While the pair would eventually marry years later, they first found a meaningful bond in sharing the many parallels of their upbringings.
“My wife was the oldest of 10 and was responsible for raising her brothers and sisters at a young age. When we came to UC San Diego, it was like a liberation — an opportunity to explore and experience a lot of things that we never had the chance to,” recalls Carrillo.
But eventually, one summer, Carrillo did not return to work in the fields; instead he entered UC San Diego’s Summer Bridge college readiness program in preparation for starting his undergraduate studies.
“I knew that education was a way out for me. And in that summer program, I met a lot of other students from underrepresented backgrounds. We had some excellent teachers who taught us what to expect from college, how to think critically and how to write better,” says Carrillo. “Honestly, I would not have made it without that sense of support and belonging.”
On campus, Carrillo took part in grassroots work to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, inspiring him to point his studies toward law and public service. Knowing firsthand the plight of migrant workers who were often victims of an unregulated industry, he viewed these as professions where he could help people.
After passing the bar, Carrillo worked for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board for 10 years. In those and several other roles throughout a long career in law and advocacy, Carrillo did just as he intended as a student — he helped people improve their working conditions and gain more control over their lives and livelihoods.
Now in retirement, he and his wife, along with their two sons, Andres Carrillo ’01 and Jaime Carrillo ’05, established the Jorge Carrillo and Raquel Salazar-Carrillo Family Endowed Scholarship to help students in financial need. New recipients of the Carrillos’ scholarship receive a special letter from the family.
“We want them to know that we came from humble beginnings and overcame many obstacles to succeed — and that they can do the same,” says Carrillo. “We want to help give them the opportunity to achieve their goals, just as others helped us in college. We let them know how fulfilling it was for us to have careers in public service and helping others. Finally, we express the hope that they consider the possibility of making future contributions of their own to UC San Diego scholarships to help future students with financial need and keep this legacy going for others.”
