Jandyell

"I’m a big believer that a smile could make anybody’s day."

By Students of NYC

January 19^th, 2024

"We have a lot of incoming students from Venezuela and other countries — every other day there new students from all over the world. I help the school staff — they pair me with a newcomer student on their first day, and I help them get situated. I get them their MetroCard, all their IDs. I explain to them how to find their classes, what days they have which classes, things like that. And I talk to them; I see how they are. Not just with their academics, but with stuff outside of school, too. I speak Spanish, so I can communicate with them most times. The other day we had this girl that only spoke French, and it was really hard. Nobody here really speaks French. But I know what it's like to be a new person, to struggle to communicate in a language that's not your own. I started trying to learn French so I could talk to her. We spoke a little. But she could feel that I was trying. I’m a big believer that a smile could just make anybody's day.

I used to be introverted. I was afraid to talk out loud. My 5th-grade teacher — I talked to her every day because she was just so funny. She saw the potential in me. She started to talk to me and to make jokes. I think we underestimate how important humor is. It’s not only a coping mechanism. It connects people. She would come over to me and push me to share, to come out of my shell. Fifth grade was the first time I started to speak in front of the class. It felt good to be listened to. Now, I can stand in any room and just start talking. I'm part of student government and run the community meetings at my school. I stand in the auditorium and start talking to who knows how many hundreds of people, and I'm perfectly fine.

I live across the river in the Bronx, but the first thing I see out my window when I wake up are the lights on top of the school, changing colors. I feel like coming to this school — it was meant to be. I've seen those lights my whole life, and never knew what they were. Then, a month after coming here, one morning I realized — that was my school. And I am so happy here. Being extroverted makes me a lovable person, and because I'm a lovable person, I love myself. Being in a room with a lot of people refills my social battery and makes me happy. And knowing the fact that I'm able to just sit in front of a room, talk to anybody, befriend anybody, talk out in public perfectly without any nerves or anything like that, it really makes me feel good. I'm also really cute, so … yeah.

Everything I do is for my mom. I know the struggles that she went through. She is the oldest and had to raise all her siblings, her cousins, and then she had to raise me. I feel like it’s my job as her son to live the best life for me, because a good life for me is a good life for her. When I’m laying in my bed, and my alarm sounds and I just don’t feel like going to school that day, I remember — do this. This is for your mom. And I’ll do it. And she tells me all the time: don’t do it for me. Do it for you. But it’s for both of us, because my mom is my everything."