Sheila Simon

From troubled child to principal’s honor roll, Sheila has come a long
way. Her parents migrated from Cuba to Germany where Sheila was
born and lived there until the age of 8. She arrived in the US in 3rd
grade which proved to be a difficult year academically as she only spoke
Spanish and German. Her home life was difficult as her mother suffered
from depression and unfortunately passed away in a tragic accident in
2019. Upon her mother’s passing, Sheila, her little brother and older
sister were sent to Cuba for 2 months as their father figured out how to
make ends meet. All of this affected her at school as she made poor
choices, had several peer conflicts, and started hanging with the wrong
crowd which led to vaping and experimenting with marijuana. After
having been caught smoking in school, she was grounded for 6 months
which made her reflect and realize that she needed to turn her act
around. This month, it will make a year that Sheila has not used any
type of substance and she attributes this to her stepmom who has been
loving and caring through all the difficulties. Today Sheila is the only
trilingual student fluent in Spanish, English & German, is on the
Principals Honor Roll, is an office aide, a Peer Counselor and a mentee,
and plans to be a mentor next school year. In the future she plans to
study nursing because she’s always wanted to help others. Sheila has blossomed into a well-rounded young lady that persevered and has a
bright future ahead.