Mario is Chinese-Peruvian and immigrated to the U.S. from Peru when he was 12 years old. After only one year at Robertson Middle School, he ranked seventh place in his eighth grade class. He then went on to Oceana High School, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class. Mario obtained his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley and is currently a Construction Management graduate student at Cal State East Bay. Mario was one of E4FC's 2007 and 2009 Scholars, and currently serves as the E4FC Student Support Coordinator.