North Sanpete student starts college at Harvard

MT. PLEASANT—Ethan Mendocino, who graduated last spring from North Sanpete High School, is one of the only Sanpete County students in several years to be admitted to the freshman class at Harvard University.

Ethan spent part of the summer in Cambridge, Mass. going through orientation and taking some classes at the prestigious school. He came home for a few weeks and recently headed back to Massachusetts.

During his senior year at North Sanpete, Ethan worked with Rise Together Education, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California, that helps students from rural areas and lower-income families apply to top schools.

He applied to several schools before learning he was a finalist for Harvard. The last steps were writing a short essay and having an in-person interview in Spanish Fork with a Harvard alum who is now an attorney.

He says he hasn’t decided what to major in, so he plans to do some “exploring.” For the fall, he plans to register for a class called “How to think like a humanist” and a class in Arabic.

At North Sanpete, he had a lead role in the school play and was the Sterling Scholar nominee in music. He is the son of Frank and Kelaine Mendocino of Mt. Pleasant.

Ethan says he feels “very privileged and grateful” for the direction his life has taken.