Growing up without a father can be hard and devastating. But with a strong mother like mine, I knew I could be successful. Growing up, I remember seeing my mother struggle with four children and having to work crazy hours just to make ends meet. We moved to Colorado in 2002. It was challenging for me when I first attended school in the United States because of the language barrier, but I didn’t let that push me behind. I just knew that I had to work harder than most of the people around me to make my mother proud. I graduated from Aurora Central High School in 2012 in the top 10 percent with many honors. I have been here at CCA for a year now and love it. All of the staff want to see you succeed and are willing to work with you to make your goals come to fruition. I want to thank my mother and family for being so supportive throughout all of my education. I also want to thank Stacy Brown for nominating me for this award. It always takes that special person to see something good in ourselves that we never see.