By DEVYN LANSDEN, Editorial Editor
Mendoza’s love for making art leads him to create scholarship for Northwestern students
A baseball player at Northwestern Oklahoma State University had a big decision to make in the fall of 2019. He had to choose between two different lifestyles.
Luis Mendoza, now a recruiter at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, talked about a certain time in his life when he could have been in an entirely different position than he is in now.
He tried out for a professional baseball team near Mexico City called Los Pericos de Puebla and was about to sign on with the team. Mendoza graduated from Northwestern in December 2019 and waited for the scouts of the baseball team to contact him about their decision.
While becoming demoralized more and more every day, he received a call from Calleb Mosburg, dean of students at Northwestern. Mosburg reached out to Mendoza and offered him a job as a recruiter at Northwestern.
He told him that he could get his master’s degree simultaneously.
WORKING AT NORTHWESTERN
When Mendoza started working in January 2020, he thought he would work at Northwestern for a couple of months and then get back into playing baseball.
He said he knew how many days he went without playing baseball, but knew it would not matter in the long run.
When the coronavirus pandemic began in March and caused the school to close, Mendoza went back home to Arizona.
There, he got a direct message from a professional baseball player in Arizona. The player asked if Mendoza could use another one of his talents and cut his hair.
The whole time Mendoza was cutting his hair, the two were talking.
The baseball player told Mendoza that he got drafted out of high school to play professionally, so he never got a chance to go to college.
Since this was in March during the pandemic, the player said he was not getting paid for the next four months and did not have a job or degree to fall back on. The player asked Mendoza what he does for a living and whether he was thinking about playing professionally.
A CHANGE OF PLANS
Mendoza told him he tried out for a team in Mexico. He then told him that he has a bachelor’s degree and is working on a master’s degree while having a job.
Mendoza said he then realized what all he had. He said he no longer desired to be a professional baseball player.
Mendoza works in the recruitment office with Trey Johnson, who is also from Arizona and attended Northwestern to play basketball for the Rangers. Johnson’s dad died in the summer of 2020. Johnson said Mendoza always called to check up on him and make sure he was OK.
“You know he’ll always have your back and is willing to do anything for you,” Johnson said.
Johnson said his favorite memory with Mendoza was when he took Mendoza to the baseball field because he noticed Mendoza was sad. Johnson and Mendoza hit some baseballs and played catch. Then, Mendoza was back to being himself.
Johnson said he loves to cook with Mendoza because they show each other their favorite foods and get to learn new things.
Stephen McCluskey is one of Mendoza’s friends and a student at Northwestern. He remembers the first time he met Mendoza. He said Mendoza inspired him to do more with his life and to stop wasting time.
They first met while Mendoza was cutting McCluskey’s hair. Mendoza inspired him to work harder in his classes. Now, McCluskey is going to get his master’s degree. He said Mendoza made him realize that it is the perfect time to do it, and that not a lot of people get the chance to do what he’s about to do.
Mendoza and McCluskey have a lot of fun together, McCluskey said. His favorite memory with Mendoza was when they went to Beaver for the annual Cow Chip festival. He said they rode in the back of a truck, singing at the top of their lungs the song “Sweet Caroline.”
INSPIRING OTHERS
McCluskey wasn’t the only person Mendoza inspired. He also inspires his sister, Nicel Mendoza, who says she pushes herself every day not to give up.
“If he can do it, I can do it,” she said.
Nicel Mendoza’s favorite memory is watching her brother play baseball. She said other people do not see how sensitive her brother really is. She said he seems tough but has a sweet spot.
Another coworker, Rachael Richardson, said that, as soon she met Luis Mendoza, they were best friends.
Her favorite memory with Mendoza is when she was inviting him to her daughter Ember’s birthday party. He instantly offered to cook, even though Richardson didn’t ask him to, she said. She said she felt special when Mendoza offered to cook.
“He finds the good in every situation, no matter how bad the situation may be,” Richardson said. “He finds the positive.”
STARTING A NON-PROFIT
Mendoza has a non-profit organization for high school students and has a goal of giving away two $1,000 scholarships. He now has enough for one scholarship. He said starting the non-profit was difficult.
Mendoza makes art, and he sells it on his website. He also sells shirts with his logo on them. The money he makes from the sale of these goods goes toward the scholarships.
Mendoza said he puts others before himself because he wants people to know that there is someone who cares. He said he wants to change someone’s day.
“I do so much for other people so I could be the reason someone kept going that day,” he said.
Mendoza said he would not change anything in his life. He said he has no end goal.
He said he realized when he achieved something that there was still more he could do. So, he stopped wanting to get to the end of anything. If he feels like he’s improving people around him, then he is meeting his goal, he said.
“My end goal is to always try to be better and always try to make someone else’s life better,” Mendoza said.
When asked what his biggest regret is, Mendoza said it is not getting to know everyone around him.
As a business person, Mendoza does a lot of work in private. Mendoza listens to a podcast by a businessman named Grant Cardone. Mendoza said he listens to every word and replays the podcasts. He said he believes everything Cardone says.
Mendoza said he rewrites everything he hears in the podcasts. To be successful, you have to listen to people, Mendoza said.
Mendoza said the main reason he is doing this scholarship giveaway is because he wants to prove to everyone – and to himself – that anything is possible. He said it’s something so rare, and that is why he wants to do it. He wants to expand his view of possibility.
“I decided to do something that no one I know has ever done,” Mendoza said. “I like doing things no one has done, and a lot of people love doing things that everyone else has done.”
