Ex-SFHS track star to give commencement address
Michael Garcia is now a doctor
Michael Garcia blazed through his time at Santa Fe High School.
A 2003 graduate, Garcia was a star in the classroom and in sports, earning class valedictorian and setting records as a track athlete.
A Stanford University alum who went on to graduate from Harvard Medical School, Garcia embodies the success an athlete and scholar can achieve.
And now he has a chance to give back a bit to the high school that started his journey. Garcia, who is just finishing up his residency at University of California at San Francisco before starting work in Phoenix as a radiation oncologist, will give the commencement address Thursday for the Demons Class of 2018 graduation ceremony.
“I was incredibly honored and humbled,” Garcia said of the chance to speak with the
current crop of graduates. “I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to give back to Santa Fe High and give back to the community. It’s a good opportunity to give some encouraging words, and share some lessons and some knowledge I’ve gained over the last couple of decades.”
Santa Fe High principal Carl Marano, who was the boys basketball coach when Garcia was a student, reached out to Garcia several months ago.
“It means more to our graduates when they see our former graduates from our community have who graduated and are doing so well,” Marano said. “I think that’s impactful for our seniors to hear. It gives meaning to have alumni who have done so well. I think it’s much, much more impactful.”
It was a surprise, Garcia said. “I was taken aback and very humbled by that,” he said. “Ever since he asked me to give it, I’ve reflected about it, about what direction I wanted to go and what themes I wanted to use to provide that encouragement. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I realized I have a unique perspective on life as a cancer doctor. I wanted to pass on some of the lessons I’ve learned taking care of patients. It’s really changed the way I’ve looked at life.”
The desire to work with cancer patients was formed early in Garcia’s life as he saw his mother beat the disease as a youngster, then, when he was older, lost two uncles who were close to him.
“Going into medical school and even premed, I always was drawn to the field of cancer medicine because it was in our family, and some were cured and some passed away,” he said. “I saw how profoundly, how profoundly that that diagnosis was on their health and on their emotional well-being, and the effect it had on my family. I really admired the doctors who provided care to them and I always saw them as heroes. So it always was a dream of mine to become like them.”
While attending Stanford, Garcia ran track for the Cardinals, earning an NCAA national championship as part of the team’s distance medley relay squad. He was a three-time AllAmerican in the event.
He also won numerous individual state gold medals while running with the Demons and grabbed the bigschool 400-meter dash record with a run of 48.1 seconds in 2003 until it was broken in 2014.
Of course, mixing coursework at Stanford with athletics was no easy task.
“It was a challenge,” he said. “But I was really blessed to have a bunch of teammates and friends who were also academically inclined. We would study together on the road, on the plane. It was easier because we encouraged each other. And I had some wonderful mentors in the biomedical sciences who really helped me.”
But excelling in the classroom and on the track was something that helped push him along in life — a message he hopes to impart to the latest crop of SFHS graduates.
“I think they both (track and studies) helped with discipline and time management, and using the most of my time,” Garcia said. “Those fields really helped me in college and now as a doctor. I think being a student-athlete helped me to use my time intentionally. Intentionally to do work or to train or to spend time with loved ones. No matter who you are or what your profession, all of our time is limited. So learning how to use our time intentionally, I think those lessons began in high school as student athlete.”