Aurora Juarez Lopez, 18, is a recent graduate of Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Aurora’s family immigrated from Mexico and she grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. As the oldest of three children, she wants to be a role model for her younger sisters who are 15 and 4.

When Aurora was young, she participated in a bilingual preschool program, which she says gave her the tools to learn English and be successful academically. When she moved to Louisiana from Arizona in kindergarten, she was one of the few Spanish speakers at her new school. She shared the challenges of often being called on to translate for her parents, who don’t speak fluent English, and what she’s looking forward to next year when she goes to college.

Aurora says that she has generally had positive experiences at school because of the diversity of her classmates and teachers, “For the majority of the time, …everyone was really welcoming,” she said. “I think the people around me reinforced a lot that being bilingual was something good.”

Another aspect was having access to a curriculum that featured diverse authors and content. “Part of why I feel so accepted or that being multilingual is a strength…is because of how inclusive the curriculum that I grew up on was,” she said. “The teachers around me were of different nationalities and the students…looked different, or we spoke different languages.”

At the same time, her experience was different from some of her peers. “Up until fourth grade, I was the only person who spoke Spanish,” she said. “So I was really just navigating it by myself…From a young age, I was the one translating for my parents.”

Aurora says that she didn’t really think about the responsibility that came with translating when she was younger, but she sometimes felt the pressure when she was translating official paperwork related to school or legal work.

“My parents always talk about how eager I was to…help them give them a voice. But then as I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that’s something I shouldn’t really be doing…It’s very stressful.”

Aurora says that she didn’t really think about the responsibility that came with translating when she was younger, but she sometimes felt the pressure when she was translating official paperwork related to school or legal work.

“My parents always talk about how eager I was to…help them give them a voice. But then as I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that’s something I shouldn’t really be doing…It’s very stressful.”

Aurora said that the school did have adult translators who spoke Spanish at school meetings, but oftentimes there were more families who needed language help than there were available translators. “So if you’re a student who speaks English and Spanish they just let [you] translate [your] own parent teacher conference,” she said.

While she can’t pinpoint a specific experience, Aurora did sometimes feel the stigma of having to translate. “It feels like they may be looking down on your parents, because they don’t know the language or something like that,” she said.

Aurora recalled an instance where a teacher made her feel like she wasn’t doing a good enough job: “This teacher mumbled ‘This is taking too long’ or whatever. And that just really stuck out to me, because it was like, ‘Okay, like, I’m trying my best. They made me feel very uncomfortable.”

Aurora says she’s worried about her younger sister who will take over some of her translating responsibilities when she leaves for college next year. Her sister sometimes struggles with quickly switching between Spanish and English.

“Being bilingual definitely kind of puts you sometimes at a disadvantage,” she said. “It’s like you don’t really know any language fully well.”

Aurora’s experience was different from many bilingual students because she gained a strong foundation from her immersion preschool. She shared the story of a classmate who immigrated from Vietnam who was bullied and tried to tell her teachers. “That’s a very painful experience to not be able to communicate, and just trying to get something across, and not having it be received,” she said.

But some of her friends, particularly those who came to the United States when they were older, struggled when they were thrown into an English-speaking classroom without any extra support. “You don’t understand anything, but yet you still have to be there,” she said.

Even though she had strong English skills, the introduction of an English as a Second Language program when she was in fourth grade was an important part of making her feel welcome in elementary school. She had three different ESL teachers who had Spanish as their native language. “Having those teachers to connect with kind of helped me feel more comfortable and just have someone to relate to,” she said.

Other students also benefited from participating in group activities and working on reading assignments together. “it provided a safe space for other students who didn’t feel comfortable reading in front of classrooms. [It helps you get] confidence when you’re in a small group where other people are also learning and mistakes are more welcomed.”

Aurora ended up taking Spanish when she was in high school. If she’d been able to take Spanish when she was younger, it would have given her an opportunity to study other languages. “I actually decided to take Spanish in high school as my required language, because I didn’t really know how to read it, or write it that well,” she said.

Aurora said that having posters and other visual aids in multiple languages is one way that schools can signal that multilingual students are welcome. “It can help create a sense of community,” she said.

Teachers working with multilingual teachers need to be adaptable and flexible, and take advantage of available technology, Aurora added.

“Being resourceful is definitely important, especially for teaching people of different languages, where one way may not work, you need to try something different.”

She also advises educators not to dismiss a student because he or she might be struggling with expressing themselves: “Don’t underestimate people or their abilities. Just because you don’t know English doesn’t limit you necessarily in all aspects.”

In addition, don’t look at students struggling with expressing themselves “as a problem that you need to fix,” Aurora said.

While in high school, Aurora worked with College Track, a nonprofit focused on college access. This fall, she will become the first person in her family to attend college when she starts at Carleton College in Minnesota. Aurora discovered her love of biology in middle school and wanted to attend a liberal arts college with a strong STEM program.

Aurora says that her proudest moment was getting into college. Even though she had always been told she was “college bound,” she hadn’t really understood what that meant. “Even in high school, I didn’t realize how close I was to that until I actually applied and I got in…Receiving that acceptance letter and then enrolling, it didn’t feel real to me,” she said.