Dec 2017: Far From Home | Ruben Alonzo Vasquez

     Ruben Alonzo Vasquez is a 14 year old transfer student from Guatemala. He decided to come to the United States seeking to find safety. “When I was back home a lot of people didn’t like me, I didn’t feel safe. To tell you the truth I was getting a lot of threats and I knew that I was in danger so I told my parents and they decided that it was better for me to come over here.” He’s currently living with his mom, but he says that his missed his homeland, especially his grandparents. “I like living here if I’m being honest but I really miss seeing my grandparents daily.”

He let me know that he’s turning 15 on December Seventeen. “Yea I’m excited to celebrate my birthday, you know like it’s different over here there over there In Guatemala.” So far he’s really liking Armijo. “Yea I really like the school, I thought it was going to suck you know, I thought that they were gonna treat me differently because I don’t speak English and I thought I wouldn’t have friends.” Luckily it was the opposite of what he was expecting. “It was all the opposite of what I expected. The teachers are really nice and understanding the students well they’re really awesome too. They act as if they have known me for a really long time, they always make me laugh and I’m always having a great time with them.”

         “Back in my hometown I really enjoyed mathematics, but once I got here it got really hard since everything is in English and it seems to be going really fast. That’s one of the difficulties I have. But other than that everything else is pretty easy.” He let me know that he likes to play a lot of sports, for example soccer. “I enjoy playing soccer, my position is forward. I just really like the feeling of when people cheer you on when you score a goal. And to know that your team won because you scored a goal or multiple goals, well I’m not gonna lie if feels pretty amazing.” He doesn’t really know if going back home is a good idea right now. “I really don’t know if I should go back like I said I had gotten many threats and I don’t feel comfortable going back,but who knows maybe someday I’ll get the courage to go back and see my grandparents. He plans to go to college and become a teacher. “I see how the teachers here at Armijo help me and that kinda inspired me to help others too. I want to attend a university to become a teacher. I want to have the satisfaction of knowing that I’m helping them out, the same way that the teachers here at Armijo help me.” ”He hopes to accomplish many things here at Armijo and experience new things with new people he meets.”I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me here at Armijo.”