Tony Morocho, graduate of UCHS’ class of 2022, left for Vermont to begin his undergraduate degree at Middlebury College. Jumping into this new experience, full of uncertainty, juggling a new environment with different cultures and undecided on what to study, Tony questioned how he was going to get through it.
“Leaving a school like UCHS and coming to a school like Middlebury was such a hard time, you know, I was facing imposter syndrome. I wanted to transfer out my first year. I wanted to go to Babson. I even applied and got accepted.
I was ready to move out. Then, I talked to my mom and she told me, once you start something, you have to finish it. So at that point I decided ‘I’m here, I want to acclimate myself to this culture and truly understand myself and who I am.”
Truly understanding and finding himself included learning more about his academic interests and exploring finance and economics more in depth.
“Everyone in Middlebury wanted to do finance, but more specifically investment banking. And at one point I thought I wanted to do investment banking too. However, finding my why was such an important thing for me. And I realized it doesn’t align with my values or what I stand for. So I was like, you know what, let me find something different in finance. And so I reached out to my brother, Jonathan, who is also an Uncommon Charter High School alumni and happens to be in finance in a different sector.”
Connecting with his brother Johnatan Cuenca, UCHS alumni, class of 2013 and Siena College alumni class of 2017, allowed Tony to learn more about other sectors within finance, get guidance on how to navigate this world, and come up with a plan to get his foot in the door.
“I had to do a lot of networking. I was sending 15 emails a day, and sometimes getting at most one response. I just kept on doing that for four months and just kept talking to people, Zoom after Zoom after Zoom. Sometimes, it led to nowhere, sometimes it led to connecting me to someone else.”
After months of networking, Tony landed himself a spot in the Goldman Sachs Summer Internship.
This May he will be graduating from Middlebury College, after overcoming many challenges, with a full time position at Goldman Sachs, joining his brother, now colleague, Johnatan, on his team.
“It’s such a big mark, coming from UCHS and knowing that you’re able to reach this foreign life and being able to go to a top five bank, it’s possible… seeing other alumni like my brother as well do it, it’s motivating.
This is the beginning of something great and something brand new. And the journey hasn’t even started yet.”
As Tony closes out this chapter of his life, and opens another, he shares one last piece of advice.
"You got here for a reason. You deserve to be here. You’ve earned your spot like anyone else. Be true to yourself and know that you’re here for a reason.”
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