{"id":12760,"date":"2020-01-22T04:43:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T04:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=12760"},"modified":"2020-01-22T04:43:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T04:43:57","slug":"young-latina-making-it-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/22\/young-latina-making-it-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Latina Making It Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Amy Aranda at the Woman\u2019s March in Ketchum on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Herbert Romero<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OUR VOICE COUNTS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

My name is Amy Aranda, I am a senior at Wood River High School. I hope this is the beginning of something great. I hope by sharing my story I can inspire others to embrace vulnerability.<\/p>\n

I come from a low-income public housing project in Hailey, Idaho. I am also the student body president of my high school.<\/p>\n

The path to the student body president was not easy. For a long time my family and I never believed people like us could obtain positions like this. Family members instilled in me the message, \u201cMake something of yourself and be greater than your parents ever could be.\u201d I wanted to leave an imprint within my community. I wanted to challenge their beliefs about what people like us could do.<\/p>\n

I am the first Latina to become president at Wood River High. I didn\u2019t want this for the title, though\u2014I wanted to challenge the norms. To show that moments like these are possible for people like us. Now is the time to stop our chain of almost<\/i> graduating high school and settling into the workforce to survive.<\/p>\n

My only regret is that I waited until my mother passed to find motivation within. She wasn\u2019t there to see me in front of the packed gymnasium, leading the school. Or to hear my peers come up to me, saying I have inspired them. This pain fuels my ambitious dreams.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if you come from a small apartment with a single parent. My family may be poor, but we are rich in hope and determination. I will do whatever it takes to challenge those who don\u2019t believe in themselves. Hopefully, I\u2019ve shown them that they should.<\/p>\n

To my Latino community, I\u2019ve learned that time is too precious to waste. We must act now and believe in ourselves. We deserve a place at the table. If there is one thing my mother taught me, it was to never give up. Even when you think it\u2019s over, get up and continue to persevere.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be defined by my circumstances\u2014a girl who does not have a mother\u2014but defined by my actions. I will continue to honor my mother\u2019s legacy of hard work, hope, and pure love.<\/p>\n

NUESTRA VOZ CUENTA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Mi nombre es Amy Aranda, estoy en mi ultimos ano de secundaria en, Wood River High School. Espero que esto sea el comienzo de algo grandioso. Espero que al compartir mi historia pueda inspirar a otros a aceptar su vulnerabilidad.<\/p>\n

Vivo en una vivienda p\u00fablica de bajos ingresos en Hailey, Idaho. Tambi\u00e9n soy la presidenta del cuerpo estudiantil de mi escuela secundaria. El camino al obtener la posicion de presidenta no fue tan f\u00e1cil. Durante mucho tiempo, mi familia y yo nunca cre\u00edmos que personas como nosotros pudieran obtener puestos como este. Los miembros de mi familia me inculcaron el mensaje: “Haz algo de ti mismo y s\u00e9 m\u00e1s grande de lo que tus padres podr\u00edan ser”. Quer\u00eda dejar una huella en mi comunidad. Quer\u00eda desafiar sus creencias sobre lo que la gente como nosotros podr\u00edamos hacer.<\/p>\n

Soy la primera latina en ser presidenta en Wood River High. Sin embargo, no quer\u00eda esto para el t\u00edtulo. Quer\u00eda desafiar las normas. Mostrar que momentos como estos son posibles para personas como nosotros. Ahora es el momento de detener nuestra cadena de casi graduarnos de la escuela secundaria y establecernos en la fuerza laboral para sobrevivir.<\/p>\n

La unica cosa que me arrepiento es esperar hasta que mi madre falleciera para encontrar motivaci\u00f3n dentro de mi. Ella no estaba all\u00ed para verme frente al gimnasio lleno de estudiantes dirigiendo la escuela. O escuchar a mis compa\u00f1eros acercarse a m\u00ed, diciendo que los he inspirado. Este dolor me motiva perseguir mis sue\u00f1os ambiciosos. No importa si vienes de un peque\u00f1o apartamento con un padre soltero. Mi familia puede ser pobre, pero somos ricos en esperanza y determinaci\u00f3n. Har\u00e9 lo que sea necesario para desafiar aquellos que no creen en s\u00ed mismos. Ojala, les he demostrado que tenga fe que si se puede.<\/p>\n

A mi comunidad latina. He aprendido que el tiempo es demasiado valioso para perderlo. Debemos actuar ahora y creer en nosotros mismos. Nos merecemos un lugar en la mesa. Si hay algo que mi madre me ense\u00f1\u00f3 es que nunca me rinda, incluso cuando creas que se acab\u00f3, lev\u00e1ntate y contin\u00faa perseverando. No quiero ser definido por mis circunstancias, una ni\u00f1a que no tiene una madre sino por mis acciones. Seguir\u00e9 honrando el legado de trabajo duro, esperanza y amor puro de mi madre.<\/p>\n

\"\"Nuestra Voz Cuenta (Our Voice Counts), by Amy Aranda, is a guest advertorial hosted by Herbert Romero and sponsored by Kiki Tidwell.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OUR VOICE COUNTS My name is Amy Aranda, I am a senior at Wood River High School. I hope this is the beginning of something great. I hope by sharing my story I can inspire others to embrace vulnerability. I come from a low-income public housing project in Hailey, Idaho. I am also the student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,38],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nuestra-voz-cuenta","8":"category-sponsored"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}