Mario Sequeira Quesada (B.S.’20/MC) has been playing soccer since he was 9, including for Costa Rica in the 2017 Under-20 World Cup. “In my country, soccer is almost like a religion,” he says.

Earning a degree is just as important to him. Sequeira Quesada came to Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017 with the support of a full scholarship to join the VCU men’s soccer team. He is one of the team’s captains and a mass communications undergraduate. Without his scholarship, Sequeira Quesada says he couldn’t have juggled the responsibilities of being a student-athlete.

“If I had to work 30 or 40 hours a week on top of going to class and practice and working with my trainer, I would have had to give up time spent sleeping or eating to stay healthy,” he says.

Sequeira Quesada is proud of his achievements on and off the field. His ambition is to combine his passions for athletics and journalism, perhaps in sports PR.

“Leaving my family and everything I knew behind to come to VCU was hard, but VCU has given me a family and a new place I can call home,” he says. “I’m showing others in the Latino community that opportunities like this are possible.”