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by Haley Hart
May 18, 2025“For me, it’s more about motivating myself to do my best than anything else,” said MBHS junior Joaquin Cuellar when asked how he balances demanding sports, extracurriculars, and academics.
Cuellar was born in Los Osos, California and grew up finding joy in several different areas; playing soccer, joining band, having long Minecraft playing sessions, you name it. Whether it be at Baywood Elementary, or Los Osos Middle School, Cuellar has always been regarded as a remarkably kind, intelligent, and hardworking individual.
“Joaquin is a pretty great guy. It feels like he’s always in a good mood and ready for a joke. He works hard as a runner and as a student too,” said senior Orion Rea, a good friend of Cuellar’s.
Cuellar has been running since his freshman year, finding it to be a wonderful outlet for stress, or just pent-up energy in general. Cuellar is a varsity member of both the cross country and track and field teams at MBHS. “The events are fun,” Cuellar said, “but my favorite part is just being on the team.” Cuellar described his love for his teammates saying, “I just really enjoy being around them all; during runs, on bus rides, it’s just the best.”
On top of being an incredible athlete, Cuellar is also a gifted student. When asked how he drives himself to do well in school, he responded, “It’s about the sense of accomplishment, I like looking at my grades at the end of the year and being like, hey, I worked for that.” Cuellar enjoys a multitude of subjects, but has discovered a particular love for all things math as he’s grown older, “Just getting to see how everything has one set of rules and answers is very nice. For history it feels like just a game of memorization, and for English it’s about interpretation. But for math, it feels like there’s one way to do things,” said Cuellar
Cuellar enjoying lunch in Santa Cruz (Photo Credit: Haley Hart)
In his free time, Cuellar also has a wide variety of hobbies that he enjoys, like playing his guitar, photography, and graphic design. Cuellar said, “I’ve been playing the guitar for a while and it’s fun, but I really enjoy taking photos and editing, you know, Mrs. Haener put me on my freshman year in Multimedia, I just love creating.”
Cuellar is still unsure where he wants to go after high school, whether he wants to attend a four-year or go to Cuesta College, but would like to major in something hopefully biology related, noting his paternal aunt as an inspiration, as she works in the environmental science field. And though the future is still uncertain, there is no doubt that with Cuellar’s dedication and optimistic mindset, he will find success wherever life leads him.
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