This is Her. | spectrum-newspaper

This is Her.
By Amaiya Jones

This is her. Brown hair, 5’4, bright brown eyes full of dreams and aspirations, and a loving and fulfilled personality. Andrea Salazar, a 17 year old girl at Canton High School is just a regular teenager but has a lot going for herself. Today I got to experience the world through Andrea’s eyes.

As I sat down with her, my first question was, What was your life like in Ecuador and what were some of the things that you miss? “Sincerely,” she replied, “I really miss the culture, like it’s really different from this, it’s very family-oriented and everyone is always there for you.” You can tell that when she speaks about her roots and life in Ecuador that family is a huge factor for her. “The culture here is you want to focus on yourself, while in Ecuador you're always worrying about your family, and I really like that.”

Moving from a different country is a hard adjustment for everyone, but Andrea persevered through the obstacles and found her way. For Salazar, the adjustment moving back and forth between the U.S. she finally found her place.
"When I was in Ecuador, me and my sister lived to sing, I still like it, but kinda dropped the whole singing thing when I moved back”. “I definitely wasn’t one of those drama kids I was scared to join. At first I was only doing it because my friends were, but then I found out about hair and makeup besides what my friends were doing and I actually appreciate it and enjoy it.”

Andrea Salazar has a thing for speaking about topics that mean a lot to her. At her age, she knows her likes and dislikes, and what she wants to be in life. She understands her place in the world and has support from her beautiful family and friends, especially her mom, Maria Salazar. “ I look up to my mom, she has sickness, type one diabetes.” she continues, “But still powers through her life and doesn’t let anything stop her. She works so hard for what she wants, which makes me want to be better.”

“You said your dream job was being a writer/editor for magazines” I asked her, “But you said there are risks and it holds you back, why does that feeling of a risk hold you back from doing what you want to do?” She says to me, “A lot of people take the safe route, of course everyone wants to make money and stuff, but you really have a passion for it, I’m kind of on the fence about it but I’m doing it to support me and my family.”

So, this is her. Andrea Salazar with determination and big dreams. Someone who is focused and always caring and loving for her friends and family. Someone with a beautiful heart and colorful personality.

place.``When I was in Ecuador, me and my sister lived to sing, I still like it, but kinda dropped the whole singing thing when I moved back”. “I definitely wasn’t one of those drama kids I was scared to join. At first, I was only doing it because my friends were, but then I found out about hair and makeup besides what my friends were doing and I actually appreciate it and enjoy it.”

Andrea Salazar has a thing for speaking about topics that mean a lot to her. At her age, she knows her likes and dislikes, and what she wants to be in life. She understands her place in the world and has support from her beautiful family and friends, especially her mom, Maria Salazar. “ I look up to my mom, she has a sickness, type one diabetes.” she continues, “But still powers through her life and doesn’t let anything stop her. She works so hard for what she wants, which makes me want to be better.”

“You said your dream job was being a writer/editor for magazines,” I asked her, “But you said there are risks and it holds you back, why does that feeling of a risk hold you back from doing what you want to do?” She says to me, “A lot of people take the safe route, of course, everyone wants to make money and stuff, but you really have a passion for it, I’m kind of on the fence about it but I’m doing it to support me and my family.”

Andrea singing at Coffee House.

Picture taken by:Stella Lampert