Finish school; all we ask of you is to graduate high school, have good grades, don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol, graduate, follow your dreams, go to college; find a career your going to be passionate about, don’t have a boyfriend; focus on school, don’t get pregnant; a lot of girls end up pregnant at a young age and isn’t something you should go through being this young, We came to give you opportunities don’t throw opportunities away, we worked tiredly hard to push you ahead so don’t fall back behind, have good influenced friends, be careful in who you confide in, keep your group of friends small, get married at 30, travel and live life before deciding to settle, go to church, build a relationship with God, learn to cook; we have many traditional recipes learn them and pass them on, learn so that you could bring the delicious pozole and tamales to Christmas Eve dinner, learn and memorize every ingredient from the pinches of salt to the spicy but enriching salsas, learn so that you don’t have to buy, learn so that on cold winter snowed in days you can drink a cup of champurrado-(the traditional Mexican hot chocolate) with a pedazo of pan dulce on the side, learn so that you can pass down the family recipes and not let them die with me, Most importantly be careful when you’re out alone, be careful when you’re around men, trust your gut, follow your instincts, learn to defend yourself, carry on your duties of being a wife; clean and cook, have morals, never truly settle, set goals, be selfless, be your own leader in which you shall not follow behind someones else nor their shadow, work hard and fight for what you believe in, don’t be silenced into ‘reasoning’, learn the miracle remedies for an unavoidable sick day, learn the fabled stories to teach your future kids lessons, carry on our traditions to give the kids a sense of culture and origin, pass down our beautiful language, don’t fall into the addicting state of todays or tomorrows technology, prevent your kids from being glued to the devil of technology, never forget where you came from no matter how far you go, stay humble, stay prepared be prepared, once you’ve learned and faced cutting a onion: the most scariest thing once upon a time when you were a little girl you’ll realize the worth of time and the unavoidable adolescence, time is the worthiest thing in the world so spend it wisely, learn to live in the moment, learn to face your problems, learn to differentiate cabbage from lettuce, learn how to to pick the right vegetables, learn to take a break when stressed, find your happy place, find the thing that distresses you and balance your life become happy within yourself and who you are, embrace who you are……..
love who you are.
— Mayeli Franco
pathwaysmiddlecollege.org 