Photographs by William Taufic.
Enrique got a break from our community years ago and he’s been giving back ever since. Before kindergarten, the Bridgeport native’s mom won her son a place in the Weston School District through Project Choice’s lottery system. That win required a little luck; Enrique’s recent wins have more do with hard work and a huge heart. 
The Faculty Key Award, for example, goes to the senior who has made the greatest contribution to Weston High School, both in academics and school spirit. Enrique won that last June. As student council copresident, he also won the Student Council Service Award. And the PTO Citizenship Award. Oh, and the Stasia M. Cina Memorial Scholarship Award (for a love of languages, perseverance and sensitivity to others) and the Diane Mary Huston Schulz Memorial Award (for a love of the arts). Good thing his beaming family was at the awards ceremony to help lug all those prizes home.
“My mom was in the front row, waving her hands,” says Enrique, who has a sister and two brothers (one of whom also commutes by bus and train to school in Weston, thanks to Project Choice). He is most proud of the Key Award, the last prize to be handed out and one the entire faculty voted on. “I was in awe and shock,” he recalls. “It was such a nice way to end my time at Weston.”
Of Enrique’s many volunteer projects during high school, Relay for Life stands out in his mind. “I played the publicity chair and also helped to run the event,” he says. He explains that Relay for Life took place during the night and incorporated themes of celebrating, remembering and fighting back. From cancer survivors walking laps around the track to an emotional ceremony with glow sticks to commemorate lost friends and family members, it was a memorable and impactful event. “We raised over $90,000,” says Enrique, whose mom is a cancer survivor. “It was really tremendous and exciting.”
Not one to put geographic limits on his good-heartedness, Enrique has been involved with Builders Beyond Borders since the summer before sophomore year, when he went to Port au Prince. This year he made it to Ecuador twice, to help build a home for teenage boys struggling with drug problems. “I created another family over there,” says Enrique, who saved up from his first trip in February so that he could return in August. “I’m hoping to get a job at college so that I can go back.”
Now a freshman at Emerson College in Boston, Enrique is majoring in film. “Ultimately I hope to be a producer,” he says. Kate Lupo, Enrique’s mentor for the Westport Youth Film Festival, comments, “As our production manager, Enrique was a star at all of our events, promoting our programs, setting up equipment, greeting guests. He is an extraordinary young man who surmounted incredible odds to receive a better education, and while at Weston grew to become one of the school’s most beloved and active students.”