On a Saturday a few weeks after Commencement, cum laude political science grad Kevin Luna-Torres, BA ’22, set out on a 14-hour solo drive to an Army base in Kentucky. The newly minted 2nd lieutenant knew his life would change forever when he began active-duty service—but more importantly to him, so would his parents’.
More than two decades after his mother and father emigrated from Mexico in search of a better life for their young family, Luna-Torres hopes his service will finally put his parents—and eventually, through them, his three siblings—on a path to US citizenship, thanks to an immigration law that directly benefits the family members of military personnel, making them eligible to apply for their green cards.
“There is a weight that I carry because I’m the only one in my family who was born here, so I have opportunities they don’t have,” Luna-Torres says. “That’s one of the reasons why I joined the military. It’s one of the reasons why I attended college.”
Luna-Torres planned to become a chef after high school until his success as a runner caught the attention of Suffolk Cross-Country Coach Will Feldman. Touring campus for the first time, he was pleasantly surprised to be among so many students of color, and to find an urban school big enough to offer opportunities for involvement, but small enough to build the relationships he knew he’d need to succeed.
“I honestly felt at home from my first step,” Luna-Torres says. “That’s when everything changed.”
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Photographs courtesy of Kevin Luna-Torres
Traveling to Myanmar to build a home for a family through the Alternative Winter Break program freshman year inspired him to become a political science major and focus on international relations. Deep study and thoughtful debate in that program prepared him to have respectful, informed policy discussions with peers and officers while his National Guard unit was deployed to protect the Capitol during the 2021 presidential inauguration. And an internship with Department of Homeland Security showed him a new option for serving his country someday.
Early on in his Suffolk experience, Luna-Torres learned another important lesson: Even the most self-sufficient among us sometimes need help.
“I didn’t know how to fill out my FAFSA,” he says, referring to the federal application for financial aid that students must fill out each year. “I couldn’t submit the form without filling in my parents’ Social Security numbers. But my parents don’t have them.”
As a result, he ended up paying for his first semester out of pocket, which was not sustainable for him or his family. Making ends meet became even harder during the pandemic, when his mother lost her nursing home job, and her undocumented status meant she wasn’t eligible for unemployment assistance or stimulus funds.
A cross-country teammate found out and stepped in to help him complete his application. Since then, Luna-Torres has been grateful for the financial burden that’s been lifted in part due to scholarships from generous Suffolk donors. In May, Luna-Torres was a featured speaker at the Commencement Eve dinner, where he shared his story and expressed his deep gratitude to the Suffolk community.
As he prepared to embark on a series of special Army training programs, a nervous Luna-Torres was bolstered by Suffolk alumni veterans, yet more proof that representation matters, especially to first-generation students. At a commissioning event he helped organize to honor graduating service members, he spoke with Robert Catalanotti, MS ’81, an alumnus who’d been in Luna-Torres’ shoes decades before. Catalanotti, a retired major general who has had a distinguished career in the Army and with the Department of Defense, shared lessons from his early days with Luna-Torres.
“He told me that during training he would wake up and his boots were frozen. But you have to put them on and keep going,” he says. “When you think about the big picture, it seems so difficult, but to be able to see that people have made it, that’s inspirational.”
Then Catalanotti said something Luna-Torres will play over in his head when things get rough: “Never let anybody hold you back. Keep striving for your very best performance, and always look to help those less fortunate along the way.”
‘Never let anybody hold you back’
Luna-Torres knew he wanted to make a difference. Now he is four years into a 20-year plan designed to do just that.
“Everything I’ve done at Suffolk and everything I do as a whole is because my family sacrificed everything to come here,” he says. “That’s why it’s so critical for me to have a plan.” His military commitment is the next step in a detailed vision for the future that includes law school, public service, and perhaps, in the end, a run for political office—a blueprint he drafted and refined at Suffolk.
Kevin Luna-Torres at his commissioning ceremony with family members (from left) Lizbeth Luna, Elizabeth Torres, and Irwin Luna.
FEATURES
| Fall 2022
By Andrea Grant