Alexander

"My dream would be to give back to my country."

By Students of NYC

October 25^th, 2024

I’m the oldest by a minute. Thank God the doctor pulled me out first. My twin brother and I learned how to understand some English when we watched cartoons as kids in the Philippines. But when we came here, we didn't know how to speak it. The first day of school, we got lost. In the Philippines, you stayed in the same classroom all day, and the teachers switched. Here, it was different. We didn’t know where room 319 was. My brother wanted to go home, but we stayed. He's more of an introvert. Me, I'll talk to anyone. We are like yin and yang.

The movies that you watch about America show bullying and all that, but I didn't find that at all. I met my first friends in my geometry class. They're from Bangladesh. Inside our school, we belong to the World Language and Cultures Academy. It’s for kids like us who come from other countries. The cool part is that a lot of our teachers are immigrants too. They understand things from our vantage point. It's like a second household, basically. Like a bunch of different moms, all in the same building. It's really comforting, all these safe people in one place. Ms. Munoz, she’s my guidance counselor. She immigrated from Colombia. I can talk to her about anything.

I joined JROTC as a sophomore. It’s every day at lunch, and it teaches me discipline. It teaches me service before self. When I grow up, I want to be an orthopedic surgeon. You break your bone? Let me put a plate in it, let me put some screws, get it back to good. My dream would be to give back to my country. In the Philippines, health care is in bad shape. People don't have access to surgeries. In the capital, you see people with amputated limbs everywhere. I want to open an organization where I could get donations and give free surgeries to people.

I love playing beach volleyball at Rockaway beach. I will stay there for hours. You meet so many friends. Kids these days spend too much time inside. Not me. Being outside, the sun in your face, the wind in your hair — I think being at the beach, by the ocean, reminds me of being back home.

I just don’t think I’d have made it this far without all the advice and support and guidance from older people in my life. Like my mom, my family. It’s hard for kids my age, I think, to listen to adults around them. But I would tell them to just put their ego aside. Just listen to what people with experience have to say. Just think about it. That perspective can take you far.