For Catholic Schools Week, Salesian High’s 1974 graduates reflect on 50 years
Mauricio Acevedo remembers the angst he and his classmates faced during their 1974 senior year at Bishop Mora Salesian High in Boyle Heights.
The Vietnam War, still a year away from ending, required 18-year-olds to register for the military draft. Acevedo took an aptitude test to access his vocation skills.
“My test said I was going to be a mechanic — that bothered me for a long time,” said Acevedo. “I didn’t want to do that. I was good in biology and math. I was competitive with my buddies.”
He went to Sister Eliza Martin, a beloved chemistry and biology teacher at the all-boys school. She asked what he wanted to do instead. He brought up the idea of becoming a nurse, like his cousin in the Navy.