It was a bit unsettling, all the moving around Julio Torres did as a child, from the Dominican Republic, to Puerto Rico, to live with a grandmother; to the United States, to live with an aunt. When he wasn’t moving, he was working: at an auto shop, then selling esquimalitos (homemade ice cream), then he worked jobs at a woodshop — all before the age 17.
All of that moving affected his friendships, but seemed to feed his curiosity and drive.
“I was the boy that would break the toys to see what was inside,” Julio Torres remembers. So when a family friend who was taking an architectural college course came to his home in the Dominican Republic with an illustration of a house, young Julio was amazed by his first introduction to architecture.
“I think that’s where it started,” says Julio, a Cornell University transfer student who graduated from Morrisville State College (MSC) with an associate degree in Architectural Studies & Design in May.
Julio moved to Bronx, N.Y. to live with an aunt at the age of 17. That summer he took some English as a Second Language classes before starting South Bronx High School. Once he graduated, he decided to continue his education at Morrisville State College.
Julio, now 22, has a long list of accomplishments as a scholar, athlete and volunteer: he was president of the Latin American Student Organization (LASO), a member of the basketball team, and an academic peer tutor for computer-aided design and Spanish. An inductee in the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, Julio also received MSC’s Tony Patane Award, an honor bestowed upon an African-American or Latino student enrolled in an engineering technology curriculum in recognition of academic excellence. And as a Sheila C. Johnson fellow, he participated in various workshops and activities that enhance social, academic and professional experiences and the necessary skills for development of students’ individual career paths.
