Jose Antonio Vargas, now a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Washington Post, returned last week to his alma mater, Mountain View High School, to talk to students about the importance of a good education. He’s seen here talking with his mentor, former Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School Superintendent Rich Fischer. The Los Altos Town Crier covered his talk:

Vargas, mixing humor with humility and an ability to poke fun at his naiveté, described going to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and expecting to see the Gap.

He found himself drawn to writing stories about the powerless and the forgotten.

“I wanted to go to the bad part of Washington, D.C.,” he said. “The idea of a powerful city with powerless people intrigued me.”

More. (Photo credit: Liz Nyberg, Town Crier)