Marmolejo on way to architecture program in college

By Julie Z. Giese
News-Sentinel staff writer

Lori Marmolejo decided to enroll in Middle College High School two years ago so she could earn college credit while in high school.

“I realized it would give me a really big edge over other high school students,” she said.

The move paid off for 17-year-old Marmolejo, who has been admitted to the architecture program at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Middle College, which is a collaborative program between Lodi Unified School District and San Joaquin Delta College, also afforded her other opportunities.

Marmolejo became active in school leadership, took college-level architecture classes and gained friendships she would have otherwise missed out on like getting to know her school principal.

The unique program helped her propel to the school’s top honor of valedictorian with 4.1 grade point average.

Beyond classwork, Marmolejo participated on the school’s Academic Decathlon team, was a student leader and helped mentor new Middle College students.

Marmolejo, along with three other seniors, also developed a new program for helping to transition new Middle College students to the rigorous and independent atmosphere of college.

In the past two years, she’s racked up more than a year of college credit through Middle College, but she doesn’t want to use the units to bolster her enrollment status.

She plans to remain a freshman at Cal Poly so she can take all the required classes and not miss out on any learning, she said.

The teen said she fell into architecture after being late on picking an elective in middle school. She ended up taking a drafting class.

“I found out I was actually good at it. I like designing and making buildings beautiful,” she said.

When she’s not in school or working part-time at the Lodi Public Library, Marmolejo enjoys reading, art and rock climbing.

Marmolejo lives in Lodi with her parents, Richard and Victoria, and her younger brother.