Pacific Alumnus Takes a Long Path Home to Eastern Oregon

When Luis Cisneros MAT ‘13 was a child, he worked with his family members in the fields and ditches around Nyssa, Ore., on the Idaho border. Now he’s overseeing other young people as dean of students at Nyssa Elementary School. 

His journey through and back to Nyssa — including his stop at Pacific University along the way — is “one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard,” Cisneros told the Ontario Argus-Observer in an Aug. 20, 2018, profile.

Cisneros was brought to Nyssa from Mexico as an infant, lived and worked there until he was 19, then moved west to attend Clackamas Community College, Oregon State University and Portland State University, where he earned his undergraduate degree.

He enrolled in the Pacific University’s College of Education and earned a master’s degree in 2013. After seeking work at Portland-area school districts, he was hired this spring in the town where he’d lived until he was 19.

Cisneros started wrestling in sixth grade, then continued at Clackamas and Oregon State. At Pacific, he served on the wrestling coaching staff, even though, he said, he wore the colors of the Nyssa Bulldogs.

While his life took him in unexpected directions, he said, “I always have a positive attitude. I surround myself with positivity.”