My parents immigrated to the United States for a better life. They left all their problems behind in Mexico where they had struggled with a lot of things. When both of my parents crossed the border, they were still young. Some people their age started high school or even went out. When they came to the U.S., they had some help from relatives and that is how they both met. After a while, they fell in love and got married. They had kids and wanted to teach them about life and their culture. They hoped to give them anything that they didn't have, and to make them happy.

My parents were struggling with finding jobs to give a newborn the necessary things they require. They started off in Prescott, Arizona where there were few jobs at that time. The decision was made to move to Phoenix, Arizona. We packed up and drove about 3 hours to Phoenix to start a new chapter.

This made me realize that I have to work hard for them and to always give my best. I want to let them know that their struggles in the past to give us everything was worth it. Since Spanish was my first language, I started to struggle when it came to school. English was a language I understood but didn’t know how to speak. During my kindergarten through second grade years, I was helped by a class called Speech. It really helped me speak fluently in English. The teacher who taught me was very kind and helpful. She helped me in many ways and I will never forget that. She also inspired me to work hard and to keep trying.

Middle school was coming up as fifth grade was the last year of elementary school. Teachers were getting students ready for middle school, so it was a big deal. Fifth grade was one of my favorite years. The two teachers I had during that grade taught well and they helped me by encouraging me to speak more. Unfortunately, that year was cut off because of a virus called COVID-19. Knowing that there were going to be changes, I knew that there would also be some challenges along the way. One of those challenges was online school. I didn't like online school at all. It was new to all of us so it was not the best. Staring at the computer for more than eight hours was not for me. At the end of the school year, my grades were lower, I felt so disappointed in myself. My confidence and social skills went down, lower than I expected.

Seventh grade came around pretty quickly, during the first three months of school I didn't speak a lot. The only time I had a conversation was with my friends or my teachers. Midway through October there was a new program in our school called Youth and Government. I applied and when I got accepted to join the program, I was very excited. During the program I started to talk more and to start new conversations. The teacher who ran that program was very nice and understandable. Youth and Government was about laws and bills, an overall fun program. If it wasn't for me joining Youth and Government, I would have never been introduced to my dream job. All thanks to my teacher, Mr. Alvarez who believed in me. I will always be grateful for him.

Now in eighth grade I’ve improved in many ways. I started to talk more and make amazing friends that help me along the way. Getting help from others made me open up about my feelings and thoughts. During the past decade of my life, I realized that everyone should be able to have support no matter what. We all need people to encourage us.

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