Right next to the neighborhood pool was a little girl selling lemonade and popsicles on a hot day. The menu read: One dollar for a lemonade, fifty cents for refills, a dollar for either a grape, orange, cherry or lime popsicles. That little girl was a shy girl with dreams who took the advice from Dumbo "to fly." "fly." That little girl was me, Juliana Martinez, a Colombian-American student who doesn't let roadblocks stop me. During my first grade teacher parent meeting, Mrs Torres said, "She barely speaks,doesn't interact with the other kids, and can't read well. Are you sure she is not intellectually disabled?" My parents responded by saying, "She's shy; she just needs to practice her reading that is all." I continued elementary with my class but had trouble with my reading comprehension. …show more content…
Everyone could go home after school while I would be stuck at an after-school program to help me with my reading. My sixth grade year I would not do my homework. I was self-conscious of getting answers wrong while others would get perfect scores. Also, during this time I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which affected my concentration and learning. In junior high, I found a way of studying that works well for me like, watching videos about the subject and making flash cards. I finally felt like I could succeed! I will never forget in the eighth grade when we had to make a magazine about a topic we enjoyed and my magazine was the best my teacher had ever seen. She pulled me aside and said, "Juliana, I need to talk to you about your magazine." I thought the worst. "Your magazine is