Student of the Month — Hope for the Next Generation

AUGUST 2009 > Yesica

This summer, seventeen-year-old Yesica graduated with honors and at the top of her class from the Mano Amiga Chalco School in Mexico. She will continue on to one of Mexico’s top colleges, University Anahuac, where she plans to pursue a degree in Engineering on a full scholarship.

Yesica, her parents and younger sister live in the municipality of Chalco, an impoverished community located on the outskirts of Mexico City. Here, like in many other communities across Latin America, only a staggering 33% of adults complete their elementary education with little or no hope of ever continuing on to high school, let alone college. A bright and hard working student with a promising future, Yesica is very fortunate in that she has a caring, loving and supportive family. Though her parents have worked hard to provide a better life for their children they have struggled immensely to make ends meet, living on the modest income that comes from her father’s work as a janitor. Yesica began her education at Mano Amiga Chalco in the 7th grade where she quickly adjusted to the academic demands, and subsequently excelled in science and math. In 2008 she beat over 1,000 students from across the State of Mexico, eventually earning a spot on the team that went on to represent the State of Mexico in the National Physics Olympics.

Because of her numerous and impressive achievements as well as her involvement and positive contribution to her school, Yesica was chosen to be her graduating class’ valedictorian. In her thoughtful and moving speech she delivered a message of encouragement and hope to the younger students. Here are some highlights of her moving words:

“Before I came to Mano Amiga Chalco I was already in love with the school, I had heard many wonderful things about it…once I was here I quickly learned that it was nothing like what people had told me, everything was much more challenging and most of the time did not feel like fun, it was hard. Being a part of Mano Amiga Chalco is not easy, being a part of this school means becoming a member of a family and like in all families its members acquire both rights and obligations… but if you ask me the most important aspect of being a part of a family is that what you learn remains with you forever…I now leave with the hope and desire to accomplish great things while remaining faithful to the principles and lessons that I have learned here… if there is one thing I can ask of those of you who stay behind, it is that you take advantage of this opportunity that you have been given and see it not as an obligation but as a blessing; that you become members of this family, discovering daily everything that it has to offer you; that you see every day at this school as a celebration…Because it is your school, care for it, enjoy it, benefit from it and if at some point you have the opportunity of knowing the joy of loving it, please do so.”