Melanie

Melanie: Life as an immigrant

On December 26, 2007, Melanie Elizabeth Pérez Ruiz was born in Teocaltiche, Mexico to Maria Lucia Ruiz Senda and Jose Pérez Ruiz. Later on, in 2011 her brother Emmanuel Pérez Ruiz was born, they lived in a little town in Mexico called Villa Hidalgo where textile industries run wild. In 2015 her family immigrated to the United States where they managed a stable and happy life in Houston, TX. Then in 2017, another addition was made into the family, her brother, Jose Pérez, who shares his sister's love of learning, was born. The most recent adjustment was made on January the 4th 2019 when they bought their new house, a place so welcoming and warm it wasn’t very hard to think of it as home.

Now, Melanie Pérez is an 8th grader at Woodland Acres Middle School. She likes reading books, (fantasy, mythology, fiction, and history) Math, Social Studies, playing the piano or flute, listening to various types of music, and of course eating. She usually hates all sports, but when it comes to running she won’t care if it’s considered a sport or not, because running makes her feel free and safe, away from all problems, worries, and stress.

In her years as a scholar she has accomplished and enrolled in many things most of them being Spanish spelling bees, she’s enrolled in them since the fourth grade, but never placed in one until two years ago in the sixth grade, she placed not any place but first place, this has been one of her best accomplishments yet. Also, another accomplishment is entering the “Gifted and Talented” or “GT” program, and after that entering “Encounters” in the fourth grade and continuing to be in it for four years straight. In 6th and 7th grade she also managed to place 1st place on Social Studies UIL, and she hopes to do the same this year, not only in Social Studies but also in Calculator applications, and Number Sense. Apart from all these great accomplishments there is one that has changed her life and if she hadn’t achieved this she wouldn’t have been able to enroll in any of these programs, her greatest achievement is learning nearly perfect English in a short amount of only 6 years, she is proud of herself because if it wasn’t for her dedication towards her studies, she wouldn't have learned such great English.

Melanie hopes that in the future she will be able to continue with high school and graduate as one of the top three (preferably the first) students of her generation and after graduating she dreams of achieving her goal of attending an elite university or just straight up Harvard University, and studying law, business, photography, and music.

The new virus has made accomplishing things even harder, she wasn't able to attend in-person school for all of the 7th grade, and even though she is now back in person, she still feels like things are harder now than before covid.

Apart from all the twists and turns her life has had, she hopes to one day achieve her dreams and goals of life, and be the first person in her family to graduate from the University with a true career. One thing is for sure, she won’t disappoint her family, nor give up until she gets what she wants.