DELANO, Calif. — April is a crucial month for seniors as their college decisions finish rolling in and they start making their decisions of where they’ll be spending the next few years.
Every high schooler who aspires to go to college has their dream school. Wonderful College Prep Academy senior, Adriana Alvarado got into hers, even during a pandemic. But she says it’s more than just her success. It’s also her immigrant parent’s American dream realized.
“At the start of the pandemic when we went on zoom, I struggled with it a little bit because I’m energetic and like to walk around a lot,” said Adriana Alvarado.
It's that same energy that has put Adriana Alvarado into action, all her life.
“My parents were once field workers. And my dad also sold fruits, he had his own fruit stand, and my mom has her own Tupperware. Growing up I'd go with my parents to swap meets. So I would help them sell their fruits and Tupperware and actually advertise their business,” said Alvarado.
You might be able to imagine how this Ivy League Project Scholar, a longtime member of the Delano Police Explorers, Key Club’s Lieutenant Governor of Kern County and founder of WCPA’s Women Empowerment Club has managed to forge through the pandemic with flying colors.
“Adriana's leadership just kind of comes off when you meet her. The way she speaks, the way she carries herself, the way she inspires those around her and the things she’s involved with, I always knew she had a lot of potential,” said her 11th-grade English teacher, Alvaro Romero.
Romero was Adriana's 11th-grade teacher, and that potential he mentioned helped her receive acceptance letters into a number of elite universities, including Ivy Leagues like Princeton and Brown, all while being on track to finish her associate's degree in agricultural business from Bakersfield College Rural Initiatives next month. This all comes, during a pandemic.
"What kept me positive during the pandemic was I knew it wasn’t going to be going on forever, so I made sure to look towards the positive side, toward my future.”
Adriana plans on making a difference in nonprofit work someday with a focus on women’s issues, following her proposed studies in global affairs and international relations and she says grad school. But before she goes and makes the world a better place, she offers parting advice for other local high schoolers,
“If you’re passionate about something and want to do something, take initiative and reach out to the adults, your friends, and mentors around you. Because you never know when they’ll have resources for you to start what you want to get started.”
Adriana also says while she hasn’t picked which school she’ll attend in the fall yet, she has narrowed it down to the east coast.
Right now, she’s deciding between Brown, Princeton, and Georgetown.
