Alexis

Hello, my name is Alexis. I’m 14 years old and a freshman at Gompers Preparatory Academy, graduating in 2029. Life has always been challenging for my family. My parents came from Mexico to the United States to give me and my siblings a better life, and when they first arrived, they struggled to find both a home and stable jobs, often staying with relatives just to survive. Eventually, my father found work in construction and my mother became a house cleaner, and with time and sacrifice they were able to build a life for us, and a few years later, I was born. Growing up, I went to a program that was a before and after school course named Prime time because of my parents’ long work hours, but instead of wasting that time, I used it to push myself, asking for extra credit and building habits that shaped me into a hardworking student. Being the youngest meant I always felt pressure to prove myself, especially when I saw my siblings succeed, so I joined clubs like Safety Patrol and Builder Club and pushed myself to always go beyond. When I came to Gompers, I stayed in that same mindset, and for a while, life felt good, I was confident, doing well in school, and although things were never easy, my family was making it through together. At the same time I started having trouble with my self-perception. I was pleased with my academic achievement, but I was insecure about my appearance. I was emotionally stressed because I put a lot of pressure on myself to be flawless. I learned how important it is to take care of both my physical and mental health.

During this challenging period in my life my older brother got into a serious car crash and was placed in the ICU, and I remember feeling completely terrified, sitting in waiting rooms that felt colder than usual, watching my family try to stay strong while quietly falling apart. I was scared to sleep because I didn’t know what news I would wake up to, and I kept thinking about all the memories we still hadn’t made, all the conversations we still hadn’t had. Even when he slowly began to recover, the fear never left me, because I learned that no matter how hard you work, life can still take everything away in a single moment. But nothing prepared me for what came next. My worst nightmare became real when my dad passed away in a construction accident. When I was told, I felt numb, like my heart stopped and the world went silent, as if everything I knew suddenly disappeared. I felt empty, lost, and angry all at once, angry because he was taken from me when I still needed him so much, when I still had so many questions, so many dreams I wanted to share with him, and angry because there was no one to blame, no one to make it make sense, just a cruel accident. What hurts the most is knowing he spent his entire life working for us, sacrificing his body, his time, and his energy just so I could have a future, and now he will never be there to see me graduate, to hear about my goals, or to tell me he’s proud of me. Sometimes I still imagine him coming home after a long day at work, and for a split second I forget he’s gone, and then reality hits again and it feels like losing him all over. Losing my dad didn’t just break my heart, it changed who I am, and even though I carry this pain every day, I keep going because everything I become, every success I achieve, is for him, and I refuse to let his sacrifices fade into silence.

Now that was all in the past, and I will use all those challenges to uplift me and reach goals higher than ever, but that is all going to take hard work, and that means discipline and dedication. Right now, I am working on my academics to make them look perfect and strong for my college resume, which looks like staying up late and going above and beyond for everything I set my heart on. I am trying out for the boys’ volleyball team and putting myself out there with sports that aren’t even offered at my school, like archery. I’m also trying my best to get into programs that can help me grow. Another big focus of mine right now is my community service hours, where I’m pushing myself to go beyond the requirements and stay busy now so I can create better opportunities for my future. But that’s only the academic side of my life, because outside of that I’m trying to find my way back to feeling normal again after losing someone I cared about deeply and truly cherished, a loss that still weighs on me every day, and even though I’m trying to heal and rebuild myself piece by piece, I know I have to work on myself first, because how can I truly help others when I’m still learning how to help myself, and in the end I’m trying so hard to build myself up for the future, not just to succeed, but to become someone stronger than the person I was before.

For my future, I’m looking forward to seeing how much I grow and how I become stronger than I ever thought I could be. I hope my future becomes everything I dream of, going to my dream school, Stanford or Yale, becoming a lawyer, and using my voice to help others who feel unheard, lost, or alone. I want to be the kind of person who stands up for people who don’t know how to stand up for themselves, because I know what it feels like to need help and not know where to turn. I hope I become whole again and use my father not just as a memory, but as motivation, a reminder of where I come from and a blessing that pushes me to become a better person every single day. Even though he won’t be here to see my accomplishments, I carry him with me in everything I do, and sometimes it hurts knowing that I’ll reach milestones without him standing in the crowd or hearing him say he’s proud of me. I imagine what it would feel like to tell him about my dreams, my classes, and my future, and it makes me sad knowing I can only talk to him in my thoughts. I also hope that in the future I become someone people feel comfortable being around, someone you can laugh with, trust, and feel safe talking to, someone who looks happy not because life is perfect, but because I learned how to keep going even after losing the person who meant the most to me. Growing together, supporting each other, and proving that even through loss, I am still capable of loving, dreaming, and building a life my father would be proud of.