When arriving for their interviews at Hillcrest Academy North, students are told that this second chance IS their greatest opportunity; a chance to start over, a chance to shine, and an opportunity to overcome whatever adversity was facing them in the past. Each year, we as a staff are so impressed with the students for overcoming challenges and building positive futures for themselves. While there are many candidates to choose from, there is one, Anthony Leon, who stands out this school year.

“I know how it feels to be hated on, so there is no hate in me.” This is what Anthony started with when I first met him in my office before the school year started.. Anthony further explained that he has faced both medical and social challenges. From a very young age, Anthony had to move from state to state because of his parents' work. He struggled to learn English and form relationships with his classmates because of multiple moves. He began to be untrustworthy with his peers and allowed himself to miss school and become credit deficient. Anthony will call it “being at the bottom of the barrel.” But he never allowed any of it to stop him from persevering. His attitude and experience has allowed him to become who he is today, which is a kind, trusting, motivated honor student whose biggest attribute is simply being a gentleman.

Anthony is a positive influence to anyone that he crosses paths with. At Hillcrest Academy North, he is a leader among his peers, he is a role model that is seen as an exemplary student, and he is certainly someone who you would want your son and daughter to be friends with.

Anthony aspires to be an economics teacher, and if possible, get into politics to help cause positive change in the world. Although it will sadden me when he leaves Hillcrest Academy North in three months, it makes me so happy to know such a fine gentleman will be out in the world making such a positive impact with those he may encounter.

Crossroads was a great experience. They were very welcoming and gave us a talk on how they work and a little about their students. They have a good system and schedule for the kids. I found the staff to be very patient, and they have great spirits which potentially can make the kids have better spirits. We broke up into groups of two and went around the school to read to the kids. We read books for the children. The staff let us read and also got students to engage more into the books we were reading. The books were about cookies for their spirit week, and we also gave them Oreo Cookies after, which I'm pretty sure they loved.

-Azzarah

My experience visiting Crossroads was better than I anticipated. I went with my Forensics teacher Ms.Silva, also one of whom made the trip possible. I'm grateful for the opportunity that Ms. Silva reached out for us to have. Crossroads showed me that I might have a future in teaching, if not in Crossroads. The ambiance and environment felt welcoming and it helped me ease into the assignment we were given. I found the atmosphere and the staff were a very big factor in us as students to feel comfortable, and also because of the Crossroads' students. I personally believe that if a newcomer could feel comfortable in an environment like this, the students must learn even better. What I enjoyed the most about spending time in a place like this is that the feedback doesn't have to be the usual feedback I'm used to. We read stories to the class and gave the children cookies after. They enjoyed us reading to them and that was enough feedback. After that I realized that teaching might be in the books for me.

- Alexandra

The students are finishing the unit “La Escuela y las Tradiciones” in Spanish class. Students distinguish the similarities and differences between the patterns of celebrations in the school, family traditions of the target culture related to activities, school, family, and celebrations of the local culture in different Spanish countries. This unit fits precisely in the social studies component of high school standards, where students are exposed to different experiences, school and family traditions, foods and lifestyles of other people around the world with “Las Tradiciones Alrededor del Mundo Hispano”. Students are able to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between practices of the culture studied. For instance, students have multiple opportunities to compare and contrast “El Poder de la mujer Latina”, which is one of the traditions in South America and around the world, dating back since the rule of the Aztec Empire and “Afrolatinas”.

Students discussed the impact of women in society since we are in “Women’s History Month” and learned about it since it addresses multiculturalism, helping students develop a sense of diversity and respect for other cultures. Then, as an assessment students analysed, wrote and illustrated their own version of the “El Poder de la Mujer Latina”. In addition, students worked in different projects in which they had to create a well-organized research about “La Mujer Afro Latina” in the school/ home in order to describe their favorite Afro-Latina in Spanish. Students were able to engage in conversations, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions and compare and contrast different school and family traditions from the Spanish-speaking countries and the United States.