It took a series of unusual circumstances to have Giancarlos Vilchez-Saldana transfer to AFA as a senior.  “At first I did not like the idea,” he remembers, thinking, ‘Why am I here,’ and, ‘I’m going to fail!’  But soon I adapted and began to notice that things were different here — but in a good way.”

Giancarolos realized that, “the other places I had been to school fed me information.  Here I had to defend my opinions.  In a sense, the teachers teach students [so they] can teach it themselves.  I noticed that I had a different kind of classmate.  They were not like ordinary people!  They knew how to discover fresh ideas, and to argue.  I saw that I had not been challenged before.  I had a 4.1 GPA at my previous school, and here it dropped to a 3.2.  That was an adjustment!  But it has all been worth it in the end.”

Perhaps his love for travel, and with it the discovery of new cultures, helped prepare him for the challenge of changing schools.  “I like seeing how others live, think, and interact,” he comments.  This year he went on a missions trip to Honduras and hopes to visit Australia.  His favorite trip was to the Dominican Republic at the age of six, his mother’s native land.  “The friendliness of the people made a big impact.  The cities were like big communities.  People looked out for each other, and seemed more grateful for what they had.  I saw how they tried to make the best of bad situations, and how at home we usually [just complain] about them.”  He also did not want to neglect to mention that, “I also got a chance to ride around in a moto concho!” which he describes as ‘motorcycle taxi.’

This talent for observation of small details shows up in his hobby of writing plays.  “I like getting ideas out of my head and onto paper,” he comments.  “I usually start with an idea like ‘loving our enemies,’ and then I try and focus on the events of daily life and connect the two.”  This same process shows itself in Giancarlos’s other great passion, music.  He currently participates in the music ministry at his local church, but only began to learn the piano in 9^th grade.   “I am mostly self-taught,” he comments.  “My teacher first tried to teach the notes individually, then get to the music, but that did not work for me.  First, I needed to hear the music, then the notes made sense.”

Next fall Giancarlos will attend Liberty University and possibly major in communications, with a minor in theater or music.  “Other doors have closed.  [Liberty] is the door that God has opened for me now.”  Thinking of the unexpected twists that resulted in his senior year of high school, Giancarlos closed by saying, “If I don’t love it at first, I feel that I will in time.”