Student Spotlight: Jared De Leon

Ana Zamora, Reporter

Jared De Leon is Senior Class President and Latinos In Action Vice President. He is not only intelligent, but he is also very involved in the school.

De Leon has an uplifting personality that allows him to become an easily likable person. “My favorite thing about me is the positive outlook that I bring to not only school but my extracurricular activities”.

Being able to keep good grades and be involved has often proven to be a challenge for a lot of people. However, being able to have a positive outlook on life has really helped De Leon accomplish this.

He has also faced hardships in life, as many have. Instead of letting these hardships get him down, he uses them to prove people wrong and become a better person. “The biggest struggle is the language barrier between my parents and me because my parents don’t speak English very well and I am always having to help them.”

According to De Leon, when he was younger he wasn’t sure if he would ever learn english, because his parents couldn’t teach him. “I didn’t learn English until I was around eight years old, because I couldn’t concentrate enough to learn English.” He is extremely proud on what

He feels that in some ways one of those hardships is his Hispanic background, especially when there are people who don’t believe he could do well because of it. “Others view me as Latino and so they automatically think of me as being different,” de Leon said.

To justify who he is what his background is, he often feels the need to go the extra mile in the work he does. “I have to go above and beyond because society says, ‘Oh you’re Latino’ and they put you in a box.”

De Leon has proven that being able to accomplish great things takes hard work and perseverance. Whether that be learning a new language, to be able to keep good grades, or being a part of a club.