School prepares her for real world

For senior Lucia Tunay, limited English makes it difficult to complete her classes, but she’s working hard to make sure that happens. “I believe my hardest year would be last year because I was not used to how this school worked,” she said. “Overcoming the language barrier and not having any friends here made it hard for me to socialize with people. It was also hard catching up with work in my classes.”

Tunay says that she feels she could have done things a little differently at school. “I kind of wish I wasn’t as shy as I was,” she said. “I had an insecurity of not being able to speak English as well as other students…I wish I had joined a club or participated in more events, and been able to experience high school life.”

“I don’t think seniors have any special privileges besides a free period or two, or how they are able to attend certain dances,” she said, and she’s treating this year with the same value as the others. “I believe that all students here are treated equally and there is really no special treatment. The only thing I can really think of would be that seniors have more knowledge about school.”

Although she has some regrets when she looks back, Tunay opened up to what her dream job was and her goal in life was. “I wish to graduate and become a flight attendant,” she said. “I would like to travel to multiple countries and see cultures from all over the world.”

It’s an impressive goal and she feels ready for it. “School has prepared me for the real world, but only a little bit,” she said. “I feel that every person in life learns how to live in the real world by making small mistakes and learning from them one at a time. We never stop learning, and so we should all learn from our mistakes.”