In the fall, Jonathon Paz moved from Honduras, a country in Central America. Now, he lives with his maternal grandmother, a woman he only recently met face-to-face.

It is not easy being so far from home and Paz misses the rest of his family and his closest friends. He said that he wishes that he could go back just to feel their presence once again.

This life-changing experience opened a brighter future for Paz. His home country is “very different from here. Back home it’s not as safe… and, well, education-wise it’s nothing alike,” he said. “I never would have thought I’d be standing here right now. When I was coming over here, it was not guaranteed I would make it and to have made it, it brings me hope.”

“These kinds of experiences show me that anything can happen if you have hope within yourself,” Paz said. “Because of this, whenever I feel lost, I remind myself to keep hoping for the better. It’s brought many good things out of me.”

Paz has a lot of career ideas he thinks about pursuing, including police officer or paramedic. While these are at the top of his list, neither of them is 100% guaranteed.