Manuel Alonso had just bought his first car. It was a 2005 Nissan Maxima.

He found out quickly that you get what you pay for.

“Honestly, I just wanted to buy something,” he said, remarking about the basic nature of the car’s make and model. “Nothing really drew me to it, but I was getting it kind of cheap. It was for my detriment.”

Manuel purchased the car from a family friend, who neglected to tell him the full story about the car’s maintenance needs. So when Manuel first got it on the road, he discovered that while it was a cheap buy, it wasn’t going to be cheap. He knew he was going to need a good amount of money to get it fixed.

So, he borrowed money from his mom, then took a second job working at El Pollo Loco in San Bernardino.

“I was trying to save as much money as I could because I work at the cafeteria, too. So I was trying to pay off my mom.”

It’s a story like this that really shows off just what a leader Manuel is, or how he could be named captain of the San Andreas league champion boys soccer team. Manuel doesn’t quit. He doesn’t allow challenging situations to keep him down. He is committed to reaching his goals.

And Manuel has a lot of goals. In just our short time together interviewing for this feature, he outlined his plans for becoming a professional mechanic, going to college, playing on the college soccer team, and winning Prom King at this weekend’s prom.

For most, the knowledge that Manuel has already been invited to work out regularly with San Bernardino Valley College’s men’s soccer team will come as no surprise. But for Manuel, he seemed to be a little bit. 

“I started maybe a month ago,” he said. “I’ve been practicing with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The coach actually contacted me. He said ‘I watched you play at high school,’ and he was interested in me.”

Playing for the college team will liven up a future college experience that Manuel intends to use to put himself in position to get his Associates’ degree so he can go to trade school and learn everything he can about auto mechanics.

His interest in cars was sparked by his dad. A couple years ago, he bought a 1966 Ford Mustang. “We’ve been fixing it up a little lately,” Manuel said. “And it’s been cool just looking at the progress.”

This newfound love for auto mechanics almost comes across like a secret. Manuel hasn’t taken any shop classes during high school, and at this point, none of his car owning friends have asked him to do so much as change the oil on their cars. But it’s clear that this is all going to change.

In the meantime, between his two jobs, Manuel is focused on finishing his remarkable senior year strong. It started with being part of the first football team to make it to the second round of the CIF playoffs in over a decade, and it culminated with his greatest memory: being the first soccer team in a decade to win the San Andreas league championship.

“These past three years we didn’t win anything. Nothing,” he said. “We really didn’t stand out, and there was doubt with us since we didn’t win a game last year [2021-2022 season]. And we just turned it around, 360.”

This is what happens when you stay focused on your goals. You keep picking up Ws. Manuel is now hoping he picks up another on Saturday night at Prom.