Campbell Student Graduates With Big Dreams, Scholarship

CAMPBELL, CA — Westmont High School senior Monica Herrera Luque's American vision of using her scholarship to gain a career in law enforcement took center stage during graduation ceremonies Thursday night — but that represents only half her dream.

It was the person attending who fulfilled her dream in honoring her heritage — her mother Ceci Luque. When her daughter was age 6, she escaped a war-torn Nicaragua to move to the United States in pursuit of a better life.

Her daughter later immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua when she was 14 years old, becoming English fluent in three years while attending Westmont High. Now she's leaving to San Jose City College then onto San Jose State University with $6,000 on two scholarships, an achievement contributing to Campbell Unified School District's more than $1 million granted to its graduating students this year.

The student also secured grants to help her pursue an administration of justice degree — with the idea of perhaps helping others advance their lives.

"I'm super excited," she told Patch a few hours before graduation.

Her family was elated she was planning to stay local to continue her academic pursuits.

No one was more proud than her mother, who quantified her level of support to "100 percent," adding that it triggered her own dream of going to college. In contemporary times, Nicaraguan uprisings dating back to the Sandinista National Liberation Front's fight in the coo of the 1980s and leading to this year's massive protests against President Daniel Ortega's tax policies have made Central America life turbulent for its citizenry.

Despite the troubling world they came from, Luque never doubted her daughter's ability to overcome obstacles and dream of bigger things than and for herself.

"I always thought this would happen. I just didn't think it would happen so soon," she told Patch through her daughter as an interpreter.

Luque spoke of her journey during Westmont High School graduation with an inspiring speech titled "My American Dream" that singled out her mother for "thanks to her, I am standing here today," and continued with:

"I am not here to tell you how great high school is, or how easy and fun it was for me because that would be a lie. Many of you know me, so here is a little bit about me.

Four years ago, I found myself walking through the hallways, holding my mother’s hand, passing each one of you, listening to your conversations, but I didn’t understand what you were saying. My mother looked at me and saw how worried I was and she told me “todo va a estar bien.” I then relaxed.

(Looking back) when I was only 6 years old, my mother made the hard decision to leave the only country that she knew and where I was born. Similar to any other immigrant with Ganas of surviving, my mother moved to 'El Norte.'

My mom left me in Nicaragua with two of my aunts and we lived in my grandmother’s house. One day, my mom called from San Jose. My heart started pounding really hard, then she said: “ My visa has been approved, I’m going to bring you here.” I started crying and thought: 'Why do I have to move there? I don’t speak English, they will laugh at me.'

Once settled, I enrolled here at Westmont. As a tradition of a typical Nicaraguan mother, my mother took me to school on the first day, and she stayed until the first bell rang. Scared, I
watched her walked away. I did not know anyone, and all the other students seemed to know each other.

They were all speaking Spanish, and then out of nowhere, two girls came up to me and welcomed me to the class, asked if I would like to hang out with them. My teacher started talking about activities we could enroll in. I was looking forward to participating in a lot of them, but the fear of not being able to communicate with anyone got the best of me. There were times when I cried because people made fun of me because of my accent. However, I had to pull myself together and help my mom clean houses and take care of (the) younger kids.

Looking back on my 4 years, I realized that being a part of the (English Language Development) program helped me understand that we are all capable of many things. During my time in the ELD program, many teachers helped me, but I want to give a special shoutout to Ms Laura Toby and also to Ms Mónica Perez because they both challenged me to do my best and every time I wanted to give up, they brought me back up. Being an ELD student is challenging because we have to manage to learn a whole new language while also mastering subjects that we need for graduation.

I speak for my Latino community when I say that we can accomplish any goal we set. I am (an) 18-year-old medical assistant and first responder certified. I am on my way to college, and I can say that I am a proud Latina figure, proud Nicaraguense and if I can do it, you can do it too. Congratulations Class of 2019, we’ve made it."

Grab the tissues. Our compassion, empathy and understanding make America great.