Jayleen De La Cruz is a student at South El Monte High School. She came from Potrero and is involved in many different activities. When Jayleen joined ASB it was one way she felt she could help the school out. She participates in color guard and plans to join FBLA and CSF for second semester. 

The most exciting part of being a sophomore she claims is not being a freshman. “Now that I’m older, and see the freshmen and what they’re doing, it’s so embarrassing,” she claimed. She enjoys helping people enough to tutor some students so that they are able to pass their class. Jayleen thinks this is a great opportunity to help people interact with one another. 

Color guard has been an amazing experience for her that has enabled her to grow. She even stated, “it’s one of the best choices that I could have made.” She gets to spend time with her friends and gets to participate in competitions on Saturdays. She has been practicing in color guard for a while yet Jayleen still finds it difficult to throw the flag. In spite of the challenges, being with her friends makes the time worthwhile. 

Jayleen’s time in ASB has positively affected her. She states, “It has helped me with my communication skills with teachers as well as students.” It has also helped her become creative because she knows what her classmates want to do for their activities. Although sometimes the events might not go as planned, she ends up coming up with a way to make it happen. 

The reason she decided to join FBLA is because a friend told her about it. The club helps people’s communication skills and public speaking skills. One of the main reasons she joined FBLA is because she really wanted to open herself up to new opportunities, and joining the club allowed her to do that. 

The most challenging part of high school for Jayleen has been the transition from middle to high school. Since most of her friends from Potrero went to different schools, freshman year was intimidating for her. Another thing that she found challenging was making time to study outside of school. She found studying to be very important because tests affect her grades drastically. 

Another club that helped her in high school was FMP (Freshman mentoring program). In this club an upperclassman gets paired up with a freshman to help the new student with their high school experience. Lucky for her, the senior showing her around the school was very attentive and supportive. Not only did she help her with academic problems, but also with personal problems. Jayleen would recommend getting involved in extracurricular activities at South because it allows a student to grow, develop, and make new friends.