After a stressful and hard junior year, overcoming loss, grief and lots of pressure, senior Lily Santos is really looking forward to graduation. She is especially excited about moving to Texas and being in the sun with her family. In Texas she plans to study at the local community college to pursue an Associates in Science then transfer to Louisiana to learn Spanish. Having hispanic heritage, but never learning Spanish was challenging for her.
“I never really felt Hispanic during high school until I met a lot of super white people,” she said. Although she knows and understands a little, she is excited to learn Spanish and new slang.
In her free time, Santos enjoys running, making jewelry, and finding new Mexican food restaurants with her mom. During her sophomore year she worked on base at JBLM and throughout the years she has had jobs at places like McDonalds and Jack in the Box. She is currently running her own jewelry business which she runs on Instagram and believes that having a job in high school isn’t impossible but it is definitely a lot. She ended up having to quit track to maintain her job and grades.

“There are a lot of expectations and lots of stress but I feel like it’s ok to not know anything as long as you have an idea of what to do if that makes sense. My advice to everyone is to just be yourself and do what you want to do, don’t worry about other people,” she said.
After moving a lot due to being in a military family and living here for 10 years, Santos and her family are ready to settle in Texas and see what the future has in store for them.