Marshall Olmos

Marshall Olmos has been around. Since discovering his love of cycling during junior year, Marshall has biked thousands of miles of previously neglected San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties. A relentless explorer, he finds his long rides meditative, physically arduous opportunities for reflection on his life and the state of the world. He was not always so adventurous; Marshall says that as a freshman and sophomore, he approached school and socializing robotically, setting himself on fixed academic paths that seemed logical but brought him no joy, and isolating himself from those who later became his close friends. It took tremendous willpower to take himself off autopilot and get to know himself, developing passions for running and cycling on the cross-country team and freeing himself from the rigidity of the hard STEM courses he has taken. Marshall found himself a tight friend-group that knows him as deeply empathetic and a fierce opponent of the Southern California sprawl that limits the chances to encounter the unique, wild places he loves. Marshall will attend the University of California, San Diego in the fall, where he will enjoy sea air and the pleasure of feeding motorists his dust.