Amelia

"There’s something to prove here."

By Students of NYC

November 7^th, 2025

"My mom is a house cleaner. When I was younger, she'd take me to work with her because she couldn't afford child care. I did not have summer vacation. Six in the morning, I'd haul myself on the train while everyone else was asleep and watch her clean these extravagant Manhattan houses that were very, very different from our current living conditions. At the time, we lived in a basement that would constantly flood. My mom's employers were incredible people that I still keep in touch with today. They always motivated me: Hey, work hard. You could do it. But my parents worked hard. They all had their own educational aspirations in their countries, but of course, things don’t always go to plan. And their jobs were so physical. My dad worked construction and some nights he'd come home with open wounds. I'm going to get emotional, talking about it. I knew I had to get my family out of the cycle. I was always like, yeah, there's something to prove here. I cannot let society define me by my race, my economic status, my social status. I knew that not only could I dream, but I could do, too. And I want to give it my all. I want to carry it out. To be a beacon of inspiration and a safety net for my family. They don't even know what a retirement fund is. I’m like, okay, yeah, we need to run some numbers. We need to run some numbers here.

I remember when I was little, facing poverty, I'd ask myself, can I do this? Okay, this is my dream, but can I do it? Society didn't think I could do it. American society in particular really expects us to fail. But humans, as a whole, we all have potential. It should never be defined by our social status, our economic status, our race. Those categories were all constructed by humans, and they are constraining us. Newtown High School houses a majority of, again, first generation and low-income students. I think that the public perception of us is constructed by this. I used to hear from people, oh, you don't want to go there. But they were so wrong. It feels like they don't even want to see what it looks like behind our doors. But I’d encourage people to take a peek inside. Come see who and what we are as a school. There are so many incredible students in my graduating class. It’s beautiful. And we are so much more than how the public defines us.

I became a QuestBridge College prep scholar, which selects only a couple thousand of the most outstanding students from primarily first-gen, low-income backgrounds in the nation. I noticed that the programs I was applying to, I was pretty much getting into all of them. I was like, okay, there's so many bright students in this school and in my wider community that have dreams as big as mine or even bigger and they want to genuinely make a positive change in this community, in this country, in this world perhaps, but they don't know how to start. And if I could be somebody that could help them to start, then that'd be my greatest honor. So when a few students reached out to me asking me, How did you get in? Can you help me? I was like, Sure, why not? I’d love to help you guys.

Now, I devote about eight hours a week doing my own academic and college advising. I started by mentoring kids and helping them through academic program applications, like Shape at Columbia, which a lot of my students have been accepted to. I help with college applications, too. Last year, I helped three students from this school and a student from Florida with their college application process. They got into Sophie Davis, which is one of the top biomedical programs and has a 6 percent acceptance rate, NYU, the Macaulay Meyer Scholars with honors program, Barnard, Brown. All four students I mentored got into Macaulay Honors. I usually met with them on Zoom, because school is so busy and loud, and they need to be able to focus. Sometimes I’d stay up until 1, 2 a.m. with them to finish. Now, I've expanded into mentoring throughout the country. I have one student from Tennessee, and I'm kind of guiding her through junior year. Because junior year is pivotal, you know?

I was more of an introverted person. Now, I would describe myself more now as an extrovert. I do try and make an attempt and knowing and understanding a person in every facet. And I think a lot of that is definitely derived from Ms. Santana's class. She ran the debate team that I joined on a whim. When I first joined debate, I wanted to improve my English, enhance my grammar, my syntax. But I didn’t realize how much it would feel like family. We trust each other, not just when we’re talking about debate, but about life. Debate, for us, isn’t just about the month’s topic. We grow as thinkers, as speakers, and as people. We’ve gone through our wins and our losses together, and Ms. Santana always helps us navigate both with honesty. It’s not a space where we only talk when things are easy — we’re real with each other, even when it’s hard. I’ll always be grateful for the day I walked into that debate room. Ms. Santana has become my biggest mentor and inspiration in this school."