September 2017 | Far From Home

Nathaly Escobar moved to the United States from El Salvador in February 2017. She grew up in Soyapango but she moved to the United States because of the gang violence in her hometown. “There’s more security (at Armijo) because police officers are not corrupt like in El Salvador,” she said. “They are very likely to help you and pay attention to you if you have a problem.” Escobar currently lives with her aunt in Fairfield and has no plans to return to her home country.

While things were tense in her hometown, Escobar still misses the freedom of getting around to places. “Even though I can go around places in here, it is more difficult because of the language,” she said.

Most of her friends graduated last year, so she doesn’t have many of her old friends in her classes this year. One thing that she does like at Armijo, though, is her P.E. class. She is not involved in any sports or other extra-curricular activities, yet, but she does enjoy watching baseball.

Escobar is new to the country so she is still learning the language. She is able to read some text in English and when someone talks to her in English she understands some of it, but she admitted that learning a new language is hard.

Learning the language is only one of her challenges. Escobar said that she might not be able to graduate because she is missing a lot of credits, with less than a year’s experience at Armijo. If graduation does not work out, Escobar is considering getting a job and going to Adult School to get her education.