The clock has just announced midnight and I am still sleepless—too many things in my head. I can’t recall having felt so overwhelmed before, yet so eager at the same time.

For five days we were forced to leave our apartment because of Hurricane Wilma, and accept my godmother’s invitation to spend the hurricane period in her house. Anticipating the loss of electricity and the vulnerability of our windows, we quickly gathered our belongings and fled to the safer area of Miami Lakes before the fury of Wilma intensified.

(more…)

It’s hard to believe that I am finally living “this moment.” Senior year is now a reality; it’s time to look back and draw conclusions and at the same time march ahead with definite plans for the future.

Everything has happened so fast these last couple of years…. It seems like yesterday I was entering ninth grade at Santaluces Community High in West Palm Beach, Fla. My family and I had just come from Cuba and I had no idea what to expect. I was living rough days with all the nostalgia, as well as depression, that came with leaving my family and friends in the country where I had lived for the first 14 years of my life. Academics only aggravated the situation. I have always been a student who seeks challenges, yet I felt powerless and insecure in this new school.

(more…)