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Community Connections: Meet Sylvia S.

By Sylvia S
November 4, 2014
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What object connects you to your community? We asked this question to the Youth Voices students at South El Monte High School at the end of our first meeting, and requested that they bring this object to our next class. These objects, along with their explanations, offer physical evidence of the personal link the students have with their neighborhood, and served as their point of departure for their Youth Voices Project: their experience, memories, and personal understanding of their community. To see more of the students' work click HERE or use #kcetyv on Twitter and Instagram.
My name is Sylvia S., I'm in the 11th grade at South El Monte High School. Our community that South El Monte High School is comprise of extracurricular activities like Drill team and Band where we go to parades and compete against schools from different districts.
My school is home because all of my family have been student from South El Monte High School. The most important thing to know about me is that when I set a goal for myself and achieve them and I consider the City of South El Monte my home because I've lived here for my 16 years of existence and my family has resided here for over 20 years.

One of the many several things that connect me to our community would be my South El Monte Public Library card. Having a library card helps me check out all sorts of books that my school doesn't have. For example, the Veronica Roth Divergent book series that I read over the summer. I read the first book at home and went to the South El Monte Library to check out the second and third book on the grounds that I could not put the books down. Not only that, it's also a cool place to hang out because you feel safe and everyone respects each other there. Rather than being out in the street and hanging out with wrong crowds, going to the library keep me out of dangers reach. My brothers and I always go to check out books to read and extend our vocabulary. As a result, I now have a B+ in my English class.

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