On June 30, Leslie Fuentes’s life changed. She left her hometown in El Salvador to move to the United States. She moved because her parents and brothers were already in America, but she had to leave behind the culture, the language and her friends, all things that she misses. She said that her hometown “was great because I had my friends.” In spite of that, she has no plans to move back home, at least not yet.

Fuentes admires the Armijo community. “The way they organize classes and education is very good,” she said. This is important because she wants to go to college “and be successful in life with my effort.” She’d like to go somewhere fairly local as she has become more comfortable with the California lifestyle. While she is not involved in any extra-curricular activities yet, she said that she would like to be.

The move, although difficult, has been a positive experience for Fuentes. “I am happy to be in this country because of the new opportunities that I have,” she said, “and I love school.”