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The fact is, it’s not every day you meet
a second year college student who has already achieved senior
status, who has already been accepted into medical school,
and who has been researching cancer genetics since his sophomore
year in high school. The fact is, not every second year college
student can balance honors classes and club fencing, a pre-med
fraternity and the Honors Ambassadors program, all the while
leading a sophomore class honorary as its president. Yet,
the fact is, Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge is not some
super-student at the University of the Unrealistic. He is
just an everyday Latino student with big dreams striving for
success alongside 48,000 other students at The Ohio State
University.
Christopher is a second year senior here at Ohio State double
majoring in Biology and Classics. He is the son of Cuban-born
Carmen Alvarez-Breckenridge, Director of Hispanic Student
Services. As a National Hispanic Scholar, he was invited to
participate in the Early Admissions Pathway (EAP) for the
Ohio State medical school, in which, provided he maintains
a certain GPA, he is automatically accepted into the school
after he graduates. Although he is not sure what type of medicine
he would like to study, he is leaning toward oncology and
would like to find a balance between research and patient
care. In preparation for medical school, Christopher is a
member of Alpha Epsilon Delta, a premed fraternity here at
Ohio State.
On campus, Christopher is extremely involved in activities.
He participates in the Honors Ambassadors program, Helix (a
biological sciences honorary), club fencing, and human cancer
genetics research. However, he feels his most “exciting”
activity is acting as the president of Mirrors, a sophomore
class honorary.
Mirrors is one of the two sophomore class honoraries. Its
focus lies in encouraging leadership, scholarship, and service,
particularly in affiliation with the James Cancer Hospital
and Research Institute. Although Mirrors participates in many
service activities and fundraisers such as Community Commitment
and the Stephanie Spielman Walk, its main project is an annual
formal dance with proceeds benefiting the James hospital.
This year, the dance was held on February 22 and was a great
success.
Christopher became involved in Mirrors on their recruitment
night during his first year at Ohio State. He was inducted
in April and “from there everything just fell into place,”
he says. “Initially I had no thought of running for presidency,
but I just thought, well Mirrors does a lot of great things
and if I could spearhead what we do, I’d like to do a
lot more.” As one of the few Latino students involved
in Mirrors, Christopher would like to target more Latino involvement
in honoraries in the future.
He comments, “I feel that I can set a precedent and encourage
Latinos to become involved in things like this, even if they’re
not in the Honors program. It’s something they will hopefully
see they can become involved with by helping the community
as a whole and becoming more involved in the traditions of
the University. The honoraries have always been a part of
OSU and they carry a lot of traditions.”
Although Christopher does plan to join a junior class honorary
this spring, he does not intend to run for president again
and would rather give someone else a chance to step in. When
asked what advice he would give to first year Latino students,
he replies, “Look out for things you’re interested
in and there are undoubtedly organizations that are going
to be related to those interests. Make sure that you pursue
those organizations because your undergraduate experience
is a lot more fulfilling if you diversify yourself and get
involved with the campus as a whole.”
It is obvious that Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge is well
on his way to achieving success. When asked for a motto by
which he chooses to live his life, he chooses to mention a
quote he once heard by an Ohio State basketball player who
said “Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice
makes perfect.” Christopher adds, “To achieve perfection
you have to strive for it.”
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