Carlos Holguin, on bass, and two colleagues play during a reception for Regents on the CSN campus.
You think you know how it’s all going to work out. You’re studying psychology in college and you have only two classes to go until you get that degree you’ve been working on and then everything you thought you knew changes.
Because that’s when serendipity smacks you in the face, saddles you with a musical instrument that’s bigger than you are, and throws you $5,000 because you’re so cool.
“It’s crazy, in retrospect,” said Carlos Holguin, 20, the guy who got smacked by becoming CSN’s newest Regents’ Scholar. “You don’t see where it’s all going. Even now, I don’t really see it all.”
Holguin was born in Los Angeles, but moved to Las Vegas as a grade-schooler. His single mom raised him and his two younger siblings in what Holguin called some of the city’s rougher neighborhoods.
After two years at Canyon Springs High School, Holguin transferred to the College of Southern Nevada High School. He earned a few college credits, and so he continued on at CSN after high school, studying psychology.
Why psychology? Because why not. Sure, he liked music, but that wasn’t a thing to study in college. Not for him.
So there he was, getting ready for his final semester in the fall of 2012 when the people around him got to conspiring.
Carlos Holguin, playing bass.
It turned out, there was an audition coming up for a music scholarship. Some folks thought Holguin should try out. He was really good.
Sue Smuskiewicz, the publications writer in the Performing Arts Center on the Cheyenne campus, said Holguin impressed her the first time she met him. It was at a bake sale. He showed up, grabbed a bunch of baked goods, and wandered the campus, selling them all.
Over time, she learned that he was a talented bass player and singer, as well as a hard worker.
So, she and others encouraged Holguin to audition for that scholarship.
He described what happened next as an epiphany.
He auditioned with a song chosen at the last minute, and he got the scholarship. It was as if he’d been blind to the obvious his whole life: Music was his thing.
Almost immediately, he abandoned his plans and devoted himself to music, which has always been his true love.
He excelled, and once again the people around him encouraged him onward. They told him about the Regents’ Scholar award, which is awarded by the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents each year to one student from each state institution for their academic achievements, leadership ability and service contributions. The award includes a $5,000 stipend.
Holguin will put the money to good use. After he graduates from CSN in May with degrees in psychology and music, he’ll go on to UNLV, where he’ll be a jazz studies major.
From there, who knows? Sometimes it’s hard to tell where life will take you.