“He does what anyone else could do,” said Mark Barrionuevo of his son Smith, “but most people don’t want to give that much effort to their life, or blame others for the challenges of life. That’s what separates Smith from the rest of us.”

Pine Creek High School senior Smith Barrionuevo has walked a difficult path to become the proud recipient of a Boettcher Scholarship for University of Colorado Boulder’s aerospace engineering program. In middle school Barrionuevo was being coached by his mother on how to call his grandmother. Undeterred by his crippling shyness, Barrionuevo’s parents made the fateful decision to enroll him in Boy Scouts, a decision that would change the course of his childhood.

Barrionuevo navigated the upheaval of having to change Troops and the arduous process of his Eagle Scout project, a large landscaping project which necessitated finding dozens of volunteers, with a gritty perseverance.

“Though I needed no coaching now, I was still hesitant,” Barrionuevo said, “and I felt my voice catch in my throat when I picked up the phone.”

The skills learned through Boy Scouts became the bedrock of support as Barrionuevo progressed through school, including FBLA Nationals.

“Walking up to industry professionals, giving a business pitch my partner and I had only minutes to prepare, I knew I was doing something that just a few years ago would have been possible. I glimpsed a future I knew could only be better.”

The future for Barrionuevo is steeped in space. As a child he was obsessed with the documentary “Roving Mars” about the Opportunity and Spirit Mars rovers.

“I have spent so much of my life admiring the creations of others, making cheap reproductions,” Barrionuevo said. “Now I want to contribute to the field that has inspired me for so long.”

Barrionuevo has big dreams of working with asteroid mining which he says is an often overlooked and undervalued concept. Asteroids can hold valuable metals, iron, nickel, cobalt lithium, worth millions of dollars. Mining asteroids could both lower costs of these valuable resources and increase competition.

“It would also help combat climate change, as inefficient and polluting mines could be phased out,” Barrionuevo said. “When someone asked me why we should invest in space exploration … with so many problems on earth, I am reminded of the MRI. Asteroid mining can create low-cost goods for millions or billions of people.”

Support and care of humanity is something that has always been close to Barrionuevo’s heart. His paternal grandparents hail from Cuba, Hong Kong and Mexico and worked in Las Vegas casinos after immigrating in order to provide for their family and give their children a better future.

“With every shuffle of the deck and card dealt in the casinos, my grandparents transformed others’ gambles into a safe bet for the future,” Barrionuevo said.

With their example forefront in his mind Barrionuevo has sought to use his knowledge and talents to give back to the community, from the Principal’s Advisory Council, to church work, to volunteering for Care and Share and Habitat For Humanity.

Barrionuevo is most proud of the Stock and Finance Association he co-founded at Pine Creek. Barrionuevo and his friends recognized an unmet need at the school for financial literacy and decided to take action themselves.

“We wanted to give our peers the knowledge to ensure financial security and educational opportunity for themselves and their future families,” Barrionuevo said. “My grandparents’ resilience drives me to turn uncertainty into opportunity, to use knowledge not just to navigate the world, but to shape it for the better. Giving back to my community is not just about action, but empowering others to thrive.”