{"id":12204,"date":"2019-12-23T16:24:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T16:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=12204"},"modified":"2019-12-23T16:24:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T16:24:21","slug":"peter-de-la-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/23\/peter-de-la-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"PETER DE LA CRUZ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Crossing science, math, sports and more<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12205\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12205\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12205\" src=\"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/DSC_0390-Peter-De-La-Cruz.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"329\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12205\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">WRHS senior Peter De La Cruz. Photo credit: Fermin De La Cruz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Translated from Spanish, \u201cde la cruz\u201d means \u201cof the cross\u201d\u2014a reference to a prominent symbol of faith. For Wood River High School senior Peter De La Cruz, his last name befits one of his long-term goals: to somehow cross his love of science and math so he can become a biologist or engineer one day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am interested in a career in engineering or biology. I am very interested in science and math, and engineering works very well in combining the two,\u201d De La Cruz explained. \u201cEver since taking a genetics course at Stanford, I have become more interested in studying biology because of its diverse applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stanford University in California holds special summer sessions with courses such as Science and Engineering Problem-Solving with Matlab, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology, and Introductory Electronics. De La Cruz, who was born and raised in the Wood River Valley, took part in that program last summer. He liked it so much, he\u2019s applying for hopeful entry next fall.<\/p>\n<p>De La Cruz crosses into the extracurricular realm of the high school experience, too. He is involved in Nosotros United, a WRHS club that plans events and programs aimed at blending cultures and inspiring ambition in all students. And he is a multisport athlete, playing soccer and basketball for the school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth sports rely heavily on teamwork,\u201d said De La Cruz. \u201cIn soccer, we all have each others\u2019 back. I\u2019ve been playing basketball with the same people for years, which has ultimately created a stronger chemistry within the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is that bond that De La Cruz says he will miss most after high school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will definitely miss the friendships, and my family. I will also miss our small community and the place that has been my home all my life,\u201d De La Cruz acknowledged.<\/p>\n<p>But the sentiment doesn\u2019t figure to alter De La Cruz\u2019s course in life. He is determined to be a part of the solution\u2014not the chemistry kind\u2014he believes the world needs; specifically, a call to better protect the planet\u2019s ecology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to find solutions that would decrease everyone\u2019s carbon footprint, specifically focusing on technology that employs renewable energy,\u201d said De La Cruz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crossing science, math, sports and more By Eric Valentine Translated from Spanish, \u201cde la cruz\u201d means \u201cof the cross\u201d\u2014a reference to a prominent symbol of faith. For Wood River High School senior Peter De La Cruz, his last name befits one of his long-term goals: to somehow cross his love of science and math so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-schools","category-sponsored","category-student-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}