She Found New Life in Orlando After Hurricane Maria

Newcomer was embraced by Cypress Creek Bears after disaster hit Puerto Rico

On Sept. 20, 2017, my life changed after I encountered Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that caused catastrophic damage to Puerto Rico.

I was born and raised in San Juan, and had lived through hurricanes before. But I never imagined experiencing a storm of such magnitude that it would make history.

When my mother and I heard about Hurricane Maria on the news, it was a few weeks after Hurricane Irma. So we were prepared for the storm. We had bottled water and canned goods, and we placed sandbags in front of the door.

Reports predicted the hurricane would not have a major impact on the island, so we decided not to board up the windows.

Hurricane Maria was projected to make landfall in Puerto Rico early in the morning, so we went to sleep, confident that everything would be fine.

The next day, we woke up to a completely dark house because the power had gone out at some point during the night.

My mom made coffee on a small, gas-powered camping stove and we ate breakfast. As the hours passed, the wind picked up speed and became louder as

By Enid Rivera

Hurricane Maria battered the island. It was terrifying to hear the 100 mile-per-hour wind clashing against buildings and trees as we hunkered down in our home.

We spent our time looking out the window while it rained for three days straight. The wind knocked down most of the area’s radio station antennas, so we only had one broadcast and one program to keep us informed and entertained.

Our driveway flooded and water came into the living room when the rain bands pounded the neighborhood. My mom and I made do with what we had, playing cards and coloring in coloring books as we rode out the storm.

When Hurricane Maria finally passed and it was safe to walk around the yard, my mother and I went outside to inspect the damage and found that the fence and trees in the backyard had fallen and the kitchen window was cracked.

My mom and I were overwhelmed by the destruction and had no idea how lucky we were. We found out later that thousands of Puerto Ricans lost everything during the three-day storm.

Most of the cell phone towers got knocked down by the hurricane’s strong winds. It took one week for a neighbor who had a flip phone with cellular service to walk over to our home and let us know we could borrow it to call our family in Florida.

Enid Rivera was the Summer 2023 PR Department intern. We’re sharing her story as an example of how OCPS changes lives and leads students to success, no matter where their journey began.

My dad was immensely relieved when he heard our voices and found out we were okay. He told us he wanted us to relocate to Orlando as soon as possible.

Living in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria was a big blur. I do not know how my mom and I got through those two weeks, but getting out was a big relief.

But flights were not easy to find. The San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport was damaged by Hurricane Maria and there were not any flights to Orlando available. After three weeks, he found us a Southwest Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale.

After our flight landed in Fort Lauderdale, we waited six hours for our connecting Southwest flight to Orlando before our new life officially began in the United States.

My mother insisted that I start school immediately and enrolled me at Cypress Creek High in Orlando the next day.

Orange County Public Schools allowed me and around 3,000 other Puerto Rican children to enroll in school, even though it was halfway through the semester and many of the parents did not have the necessary paperwork.

I was overwhelmed on my first day as a sophomore at Cypress Creek High. I was 14 years old and had never been in a school that big before and struggled to find where I needed to go on campus. My teachers were very nice, and they ensured that I would get caught up with all the material that had already been covered in the class.

The high school had many resources to assist students with getting back on track after missing classes and coursework for the past month. I was also given a backpack with all the materials that I needed for my classes.

I joined the English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) program, which helped me become comfortable with speaking English. I also had an opportunity to earn college credit when my academic counselor suggested I register for Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish and in-person dual-enrollment courses at Valencia College.

I met so many incredible students that also took the ESOL class, and many are still my friends today.

I am a proud Bear, and I am incredibly grateful to Cypress Creek High and OCPS. They went above and beyond to make sure that the Puerto Rican students who relocated to Orlando after the storm were taken care of and provided with opportunities to grow and become successful.

I was on the honor roll and graduated from Cypress Creek High during a drive-thru graduation ceremony and the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020. My senior picture was on a sign in my front yard and poster along with my classmates at the campus entrance. Principal McHale presented me with my high school diploma through the front passenger-side window of my mom’s car. I was thankful to graduate even though the Class of 2020 could not be together.

After high school, I received my Associate of Arts degree from Valencia College in December 2021 and am currently a junior in the advertising and public relations program at the University of Central Florida’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media. I had an opportunity to intern at OCPS this past summer and plan on pursuing a publicrelations career after I graduate from UCF in December 2024.

One thing that stuck with me after Hurricane Maria is the importance of being prepared for anything because you never know when you can buy groceries and supplies at a store if a disaster happens quickly. I also suggest purchasing expensive hurricane supplies like a generator, battery-operated fans and heavy-duty flashlights just in case you are out of power for many days.

I learned from my Cypress Creek High experience that you never let fear prevent you from doing great things as you move forward in life.