Tremendous change can happen within four years, especially during high school. Senior, Emiliana Morales, shared some anecdotes from her high school journey highlighting some of those changes. She has faced challenges, overcame obstacles, and regained the confidence she once lost. Emiliana is involved in both softball and tennis here at South El Monte High School. She loves to participate in school events, now more than ever. “I wouldn’t really go all out for spirit days because I would be too embarrassed, but now I definitely go out. I don’t care anymore about being embarrassed and that is my biggest accomplishment.” 

Emiliana’s sophomore year was cut short due to the pandemic. She admitted that she wasn’t prepared for the toll it was about to take on her mental health. Also due to the pandemic, she felt as if she missed out on making memories with amazing people. Just like many students who participated in online learning, Emiliana had a hard time adjusting back to in-person instruction. She found herself not being able to remember a lot of the material covered during distance learning. However, she managed to overcome the setbacks caused by the pandemic and has been making the most of her senior year. 

Looking back at her freshman year, Emiliana believes she has grown tremendously since then. She had the opportunity to connect with more people this year. Along with branching out, she has also been able to learn a lot more about herself. She has been working on establishing personal boundaries, she doesn’t allow people to walk all over her anymore. Ultimately, Emiliana is focused on doing whatever brings her happiness. Her friends have given her advice to not care what other people may think, as long as whatever she’s doing makes her happy. “ I had no confidence at the beginning of freshman year and it held me back on a lot of things. I no longer let anything hold me back from what I want to accomplish.” 

She’s a very involved student on campus. Emiliana can be seen going full out on spirit days, running for prom queen, hitting home runs on the softball field, and backhanding in tennis. Although she’s only played tennis for two years, she fell in love with the sport. On the other hand, she has been playing softball since her freshman year. The most exciting part of her senior year was winning prom queen. “I’m so thankful to have been crowned, it will always be a beautiful memory.” Once high school begins to become a memory, she’ll miss the amazing people she met these past few years and will miss seeing them in the hallways. However, she has her future to look forward to after South, “After graduation I plan to attend Cal Poly Pomona and major in biology. From there I want to get into medical school and become a dermatologist.”  

Emiliana would like to thank her mom, the most supportive person in her life. She describes her mother as a strong woman who deserves everything the world has to offer since it has taken so much from her. “She is my hero and I am so thankful she has stuck by my side regardless of anything.”