Las Vegas City Wire

Being the first member of your family to graduate from high school and then college is a special accomplishment.

While growing up in Las Vegas, Irwin Munoz overcame obstacles that derailed other family members and friends, according to a news release from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He did not succumb to peer pressure and join a gang. His steadfast dedication to his education paid off instead, as he is now a UNLV graduate and member of the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine class of 2025.

"As a low-income, first-generation Mexican-American, at first I never envisioned attaining a college education, nor was it discussed as part of my education plan," Munoz said in the news release. "For quite a few years, I didn't speak English well, just Spanish. My (Clark County) public education experience was largely filled with a culture of minimal academic expectations – to finish school and get a job. Most educators didn't think I could amount to anything."

An internship program toward the end of his high school tenure helped Munoz change his outlook on the importance of a college education, the news release noted.

"I didn't think my background was right for college," Munoz said. "When people are poor, not many are thinking about the kind of jobs college can make possible. They're only thinking of the necessities just to stay alive."

Munoz wants to "help others unsure of where their futures may lie," according to the news release. He is currently president of Future Latinos in Medicine at UNLV.

"I never really thought about being able to go to medical school until a classmate mentioned it my junior year of college," he said.

Munoz was born at University Medical Center in Las Vegas in 1995, the news release noted. His immigrant parents then returned to La Barca, Mexico – a small farming community in Jalisco – to raise him. He recalls seeing cows, horses, chickens, and pigs frequently, as well as a pack of ostriches. Munoz came a long way, from being surrounded by farm animals in La Barca to acting as an advocate for higher education within his community.