Every year as part of the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, Tennessee high school students are invited to participate in the Essay and Multimedia Contest for Young Latino Writers.
The purpose of this contest is to listen to the voices of the new generation of Latino voices in our community – high school students who reflected on the theme of “My Hispanic Roots, My American Dream.”
Excerpts from this year’s finalists are below. Join us on October 16th, 2020 for Conexión Américas En Casa celebration for the announcement of the grand prize winner!
Hanna Mijares-Tigrera, a junior at Overton High School
Hanna poetically examined her roots—her roots in the soil of Venezuela, dug up from the soil she always knew and transplanted to a place never met before.
“My roots represent who I am, and where I come from. They represent my native tongue, and they represent my ancestors. They represent the color of my skin, and my thick accent as I exchange thoughts with people of different origin… Immigrating from the land that saw me take my first breath will not always be an easy story to tell, but it is always a valuable story that I hold very close to my heart. It is a story that is just as important as any other and that is always worth sharing. Getting my roots dug up from a soil that I had always known was a challenge; a soil that always knew how and what to feed me. But being abruptly yanked from the dirt I always knew only to be transplanted into a place never met before was scary. I had only ever read and fantasized about this wild land; I was not prepared to see myself immersed into this brand-new territory. However, I was willing to give it a shot.”
Dalys Millanova Tzarax Torres, a sophomore at Lead Academy
Dalys writes about growing up in an immigrant household, and reflects on the social injustices impeding the ability of many to reach their own version of the American dream.
“Cuando terminaba la escuela tenía que ir con una de mis tías y mi mamá llegaba muy cansada a la casa porque ella trabajaba en una factoría de pelotas. Siempre estábamos cambiando de casa o de apartamentos. Mi mamá siempre quería una casa bonita que tenga mucho espacio y que sea de nosotros. Ahora que estoy en otro hogar y que me recuerdo de mi niñez yo pienso si todavía hay un sueño americano? Yo creo que no puede existir hasta que todos tengan los mismos privilegios. Pero todavía hay mucha descriminación estos días. Mi sueño americano es que todos tengan los mismos derechos, que nadie es mejor, nadie es menos todos somos humanos y no deberíamos discriminar a las personas por su religión, su etnicidad, ni su orientación sexual.”
Translated into English here:
“As a child, when I finished school, I had to go with one of my aunts and my mom would come home very tired because she worked in a ball factory. We were always changing homes or apartments. My mom always wanted a beautiful house with a lot of space that we could call our own. Now that I am in another home and I remember my childhood, I wonder if the American dream still exists? I think that [the American dream] cannot be realized until everyone has the same privileges. But there is still a lot of discrimination these days. My American dream is that everyone has the same rights, that no one is better, no one is worse, that we are all human and we shouldn’t discriminate against people for their religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.”
“Cuando terminaba la escuela tenía que ir con una de mis tías y mi mamá llegaba muy cansada a la casa porque ella trabajaba en una factoría de pelotas. Siempre estábamos cambiando de casa o de apartamentos. Mi mamá siempre quería una casa bonita que tenga mucho espacio y que sea de nosotros. Ahora que estoy en otro hogar y que me recuerdo de mi niñez yo pienso si todavía hay un sueño americano? Yo creo que no puede existir hasta que todos tengan los mismos privilegios. Pero todavía hay mucha descriminación estos días. Mi sueño americano es que todos tengan los mismos derechos, que nadie es mejor, nadie es menos todos somos humanos y no deberíamos discriminar a las personas por su religión, su etnicidad, ni su orientación sexual.”
Valentina Rodriguez Trujillo, a senior at McGavock High School
Valentina also shares about her Colombian roots and the difficulties of moving to a new country as a teenager, but ultimately finds her way in a new home.
“Si estuviera en Colombia ahora nunca hubiera aprendido qué significa ser latino o estar orgullosa de llevar sangre latina, porque esta experiencia me hizo aprender muchas cosas, y que la palabra inmigrante simplemente una persona que muda a otro país, un inmigrante es un ejemplo de vida, se superación, un luchador, una persona con sueños y aspiraciones. En mi punto de vista ser latino implica más que nacer o tener raíces latinas. Creo que un latino se diferencia por ser alguien trabajador, que quiere salir adelante, una persona que sin importar lo que digan, presume su cultura, la enseña y no la esconde, un latino debe saber su idioma al derecho y al revés y un latino nunca debería estar avergonzado de donde proviene. Nos tachan de inmigrantes, y pienso que mucha gente estará de acuerdo conmigo, esa palabra es muy discriminatoria, somos personas común y corrientes, con nuestros pies, manos, ojos como cualquier otra persona.”
Translated into English here:
“If I were in Colombia now I would have never learned what it means to be Latino or to be proud to carry Latino blood, because this experience has made me learn many things, and that the word immigrant simply [means] a person who moves to another country, an immigrant is an example of life, of overcoming, a fighter, a person with dreams and aspirations. From my point of view, to be Latino means more than to be born or to have Latino roots. I think that a Latino is distinguished for being someone hardworking, who wants to get ahead, a person who no matter what they say, shows off their culture, teaches it and doesn’t hide it, a Latino knows their language front and back and a Latino should never be ashamed of where they come from. They label us as immigrants, and I think many people would agree with me, that word is very discriminatory, we are common and everyday people, with our feet, hands, and eyes like any other person.”
Laura Vega Perdomo, a senior at Overton High School
Laura’s essay begins at the moment she and her family are leaving Colombia for the US, and reflects on the diversity she finds here and learns to love.
“When my family and I left our dear Colombia, we took the essentials. We said goodbye to our house, to our jobs and schools, to our culture, and above all, to the family we left behind; leaving people and things behind and moving on had become common but the feeling never changed… I missed them all, but the future gave me hope. As refugees, we expected the best and always prepared for the worst but, when we received the news that we were allowed in the United States, we all felt relieved and happy that the wait and the constant fear were over. I felt a great responsibility that would only increase over time, with my family needing English in very different scenarios; I had to quickly adapt to this new world I was thrown into, full of new habits and traditions, full of new expectations and stereotypes, full of new problems to overcome. My ‘American dream’ is actually an international one….I want to fill a gap in this world and my passion and dedication brought by my Hispanic heritage will help me thrive in this American world.”