New Voices 2020

“The Teacher with No Classroom and the Boy from the Fields�

by Itzel Sanchez Lately, in the news, immigrants have been presented as murderers, rapists, and thieves.

Although this may be true in some cases, I am here to explain how two immigrants have inspired me to be who I am today and to work hard to one day accomplish my dream. These two immigrants, who are now American citizens, are my parents. I have seen my parents go through so many obstacles such as financial instability, class stratification, and work-related injuries, and not only have they overcome these obstacles, but they have exceeded all of my expectations and have given me more than what I deserve.

One of the reasons many immigrants come to America is to have the financial security that they cannot have in their home country. This is the exact reason both of my parents came to America. When my father arrived, he was only thirteen years old and was soon enrolled in a local middle school. While attending middle school, my father would often go along with my grandparents to the fields and help them pick leather leaves in order to help to help out with costs. Life was hard in Florida for their family, and they decided to relocate to South Carolina, although much did not change for his family as he went on to high school. As a sophomore in high school, my father made the decision to drop out of school in order to work in a factory to help provide for his family. Not being able to graduate high school caused my father to never really have a well-paying job, but my father was blessed with people in his life who helped him get jobs, and that way he was able to provide for our family. My father has now followed his passion for cars and has opened his mechanic shop, but in the beginning, it was not easy. There was more money going out of our home than coming in, he spent many late nights working instead of being home, and many band concerts and soccer were games missed, but not once did I ever see my father give up and neglect his responsibilities at home as head of household.

Because of all my parents’ hard work, my family has a comfortable life, and I will forever be thankful for that.

My mother is the daughter of a house maid and a well-known politician; as a result of this, she was able to experience two very different ways of life. During the first part of her life, she was raised by her grandparents and lived life as lower class, but by the time my mother 23