Biographic Information: English, Female, 18 yrs
Themes: Biographical information (where participant is from, where participant grew up and lives currently), Participant’s family, Georgia vs. Las Cruces, Participant’s likes and interests (favorite foods and restaurants, cooking and baking, high school memories, volunteering, church, community, dance, etc.)
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Transcript:
[00:00]
Interviewer: Okay, so um where are you from? Where did you grow up?
00:03
Participant: I am from New Mexico, specifically Las Cruces. I have always lived here born and raised. Uh, can’t tell you which hospital but um I can tell you I’ve lived in New Mexico all my life. True New Mexican right here. So um yeah.
I: Nice. Do you like it here?
00:18
P: Oh I love it. It’s it’s definitely home. Definitely when I go out of town or go to Georgia to visit my aunt or I go to Austin to visit my uncle. It’s definitely one thing I do miss. I’m, I know, it’s dry, but it’s the Land of Enchantment. It’s my home that I’ve always known. So when I, like driving back into El Paso, I’m like, I’m home. I know where I am. I’m home. And it’s just like that. It’s like a feeling of like relaxation. And it’s just like, Oh, my goodness, like happiness that your home. But I definitely enjoy New Mexico. It’s, it’s my favorite place of any place. I could say I’ve been because it’s my home. So yeah, that’s why I would say I enjoy New Mexico. Also the people. The people are amazing. There’s not a person here in Mexico, I haven’t met that. I’m like, “ooh”, I love everyone here that I know. And like just the people like the local towns, people down at the farmers market all of them are so kind and the art is amazing. Especially the views here. I love the views. Because in Georgia, you just see trees for miles. And I’m like, there’s no, there’s no beauty to capture. It’s just trees. I mean, we love a green tree. But it’s just trees and no view. Here, you get to see a view for miles on end. And you never know what you’re gonna get. And so I’m like, I like seeing views of here. I like seeing the sunsets. Georgia, nothing you don’t see anything. You, You see trees or you see something in the trees. But here you see sunsets, you see birds, you see airplanes flying some places, you see hot air balloons, and you’re like, oh my goodness, that’s a cool hot air balloon. But you have an amazing view of just, for miles. And I’m like, I love it. It’s my favorite. Just the little things are my favorite.
I: Oh, I love that. I love that energy. And I, I definitely agree with it. Um, but Georgia, you have family in Georgia?
02:10
P: I do. Um, they moved. I don’t remember when they were-, specifically moved. I just know, whenever I was in like, elementary, fourth grade, fifth grade, they moved around there to Kingston, Georgia around there. Because my uncle got a new job over there. It’s a beautiful place it is it’s very humid, but, and very green, but I don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful. But the little things we have here in New Mexico aren’t really the same. The views aren’t there. Um, the hospitality is there, but it’s not as defined as it is here. Um, but everyone is still really, really nice. And then the food the food is very different. Um, there’s a little less flavor there. Um, but you know, there’s different flavors everywhere. But there’s a little less labor in their food. But here the food is like it it just it just brings me back to obviously the beauty of here and in Georgia, the food is there beauty there it is. It really is. But um it’s definitely different from growing up in New Mexico and then going to a place you’ve never really been cause you’re like, “Oh, this is very different new experience” but at the same time you’re like, “Hmm, I wonder what would it would like the food in Georgia would be like or like anything else in Georgia would be like in New Mexico”. Like if you brought it to New Mexico. What would other people like think of it like we’re like, “Hmmm I wonder about that?”
I: That’s that’s really interesting actually I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of that before but you got me thinking.
P: I have time to think and I’m like definitely one thing with ADHD is you’re like, you think about the most interesting things you never thought anyone else would think of. And so you’re like, “hmmm I wonder how this would be with this place and then this would be with this place. It was swapped” You know? So definitely one thing I enjoy. I never know what to expect.
I: Let’s talk more about food then here in town. What is what is your favorite restaurant?
04:04
P: Oh, I, there’s a couple. My like favorite fancy restaurant here is like Lescombes. I love, I just love there’s there’s one specific dish I love. It’s uh the spicy seafood carbonara because I, I love seafood. I’m a shrimp girly. I love it. I love the spice and flavor like just a tangy spice. I love spicy. That’s one thing I love about New Mexico is there’s there’s always spice there’s flavor. I love flavor. And uh, then uh, my second fa-, favorite place is Andales, Dog House specifically. I love all their food. I haven’t tried all of it yet. One day, but definitely I love majority of their food on their menus. Nothing is like there’s nothing that I don’t like on there. And like their salsas that they have at their salsa bar, thier chips are so good. They’re light and they have a great salty crunch and like their sauces are spicy with flavor. But they’re not like too spicy, were you’re gonna burn your tongue off. But at the same time, it’s just it’s like in Ratatouille whenever he eats cheese and strawberries uh together and it’s a blast of flavor. That’s what their food is like to me like it’s a blast of flavor. And I’m like, yeah, I like, every time I eat I’m like, “mmmmm” with like, the exact face ratatouille had when he was eating strawberries and cheese. Like, oh my goodness. And like my favorite food would be, at Andres would definitely be their shrimp tacos and their posole. I love posole. It’s, oh, it’s delicious. Like, I can eat it anytime like year round. It’s, it’s definitel, I, I love eating it when I have a bad day. Like, “this is home. I feel better now because I have a delicious like, food in front of me”. And then also, I love eating it during Christmas and fall. Because it just I feel like it just goes with the weather very, very well. And especially I love I love eating it when I have some coffee with me. Because it just it just gives the whole fall effect. I just love it. I love making it too. I love making posole with my mom. It’s, I love the memories that we share when we make it and then some of my friends come over and we’re like, “hey, we have too much”. And just the joy of their faces when they taste it, it’s it’s funny, but it’s really like, oh my goodness, like “I can cook” kind of thing.
I: Nice! Very rewarding. Do you cook often?
06:28
P: Um, I definitely don’t cook often. Uh, cause I also just don’t have time because I’m a busy girly. But one thing I do love to do like even if it’s not cooking is baking. If I have time where I’m like, “hmm, I’m home alone. What should I do? I don’t know what to do”. I’ll bake, i don’t, it doesn’t matter if it’s a box thing or it’s from scratch. I’ll bake. I love to bake. I love I love making cookies or liek just brownies specifically. And I just love just drowning them in milk because it’s mushy, and it’s a different flavor. And especially like when uh, my favorite time is like whenever I do bake, I bake with my family every year on Christmas. We bake these candy cane cookies in the shape of candy canes, and they’re delicious. We always get compliments for them. Honestly, we should enter those in like a bake sale or like a baking competition just to see. But they’re so delicious. I love making those every time. They’re very easy to make. And um, like just the fond memories of eating the dough. I love the dove especially. And like the sugar is just so fun. But baking, I would say between baking and cooking. Baking is my strongest cooking it takes me a little bit while but I do have a lot of dishes that I’ve made a lot. Um, like fideos I’ve made fideos, Chile Rellenos, I’m really good at making nose. Especially because they’re fluffy too. And I love them when cheese melts in your mouth. But I’m just like, “oh”, and then like I love making mashed potatoes to um definitely like around Thanksgiving. I love. I love the stuffing. Cause, you can never go wrong with stuffing, Turkey mashed potatoes and stuffing all together with like a little bread roll like in a little sandwich. It is. It is heaven.
I: Ooo girl! You’re making me hungry.
P: It’s just so fluffy and light. So I just I love I love cooking and just little things with family and stuff. Yeah.
I: Nice. So, can you tell me about the last time you baked, the most the most recent time?
08:23
P: Hmm the most recent time? Hmm, I would more so call it cooking this time but my mom was out of town so my brother and I were just at home alone and we had so much breakfast stuff leftover from when my dad’s best friend and his daughter came to visit. And so I was like, “Hey, we have a whole bunch of bacon, pancakes and sausage. Do you want to have like a breakfast dinner night?” And he’s like, “Yeah, of course”. And so I get the I get the toast out and I start making some french toast. And it was definitely one thing I love making becasue it’s easy, but just the flavor when I eat it. I love flavor. And like just the warm smells of the house. My brother’s best friend came over from walking from his house. And he’s like, “I could tell you were cooking something” and I was like “how did you know?” And he’s like, “I could smell it down the street.” And I was like “a good smell or bad smell?” and he was like, “a good smell” and then he came and ate the French toast with us. It was really funny. So I, last thing I cooked was French toast. And then I haven’t really cooked anything much since it’s just been, I mean unless you would count mac and cheese but that’s microwavable. Butm but other than that, it’s just been french toast that I’ve cooked because you know, life is a little busy and stuff but honestly, I might go home. Oh, I don’t have school tomorrow so I might bake something!
I: Nice.
P: I might bake some scones.
I: Scones, I don’t think I’ve ever had scones before.
09:46
P: Ah, they’re so good. I have like this lemon raspberry recipe from when I was in pro baking last year. And we made lemon raspberry scones. And when I tell you everyone ate, took one and they like got a couple and they like ate them. They were to die for, like all the teachers that got to try em and like students, they were like, “hey” to like for baking class, “you should like make more of these” because these are delicious. And they’re good. They’re they’re really, I don’t know, they crumble. But like when you when you bite them, it crumbles in your mouth and like melts. And then the raspberry and lemon, like it’s it’s like it’s like zesty flavor and it’s just oh my goodness, ratatouille like flavoring.
I: It sounds delicious. Yeah.
P: Oh it is!
I: I think it’s great that you guys get that opportunity at school to learn those things I wish I would have taken those classes.
10:35
P: Me too, I definitely would say I enjoy learning how to bake. Definitely a good life skill. And then I definitely like the two classes that I’m very thankful I have taken in all my my, like like all years in high school was child development. I learned a lot in that, especially um as someone who volunteers at their church with younger uh kids, it was definitely helpful, very, very helpful, especially since there’s all different sorts of kind of kids, they’re all different, unique in their own way. So I was like, this is very helpful. But then it’s also helpful to know like in my teen years, and as I grow, like, as I grow up, it’s very helpful to know like certain things or like what to look for, for certain situations. And I was like, I’m very grateful for this class, although it was very grateful but, I was not a fan of the Baby Project. But it was something to learn though it was definitely needed to learn. But that one and pro baking I’m very grateful for, and theater for community skills.
I: Nice, so you’re very well rounded. Um, tell me about the baby project what was it?
11:35
P: Um, so the Baby Project was where you could either choose a flower sack, or you would wait until it was your turn to get a robotic baby, I chose to get a robotic baby because I was like, “you know, I’m never gonna do this again, might as well go for the experience”. And basically, you were a parent, it was just you, you were basically a single parent. I mean, your friends could definitely help out if they chose if they chose to like to be like, “Hey, you want to take care of this.” And I’m very grateful for my friends as well, because there was it was my last day I had the robotic baby. It was very, it was very tiring. I’ll say that very tiring. And a little stressful, especially as like someone who’s already done that, like feeding. We keep the middle night making sure like the baby’s alive. You don’t miss a feeding and stuff. Because the baby monitors everything you do, like change it, feed it, um burp it, how you how you hold it, um it monitors all of that as it would with a real life baby it wouldn’t monitor it, you would just kinda, know? So, it was definitely interesting. Um, but it’s one thing I really like, I wasn’t a fan of the beginning. I was like, uhh, and then at the end, I was like, I don’t really like it. I was like, “No”. And then I was thinking later on, like, a couple years, or like, couple months after I did it. And I was thinking I was like, because I was, I was actually at my church, I was sitting in the worship center, just listening to the pastor, and there was a family with a baby in front of me. And I was, I was thinking to myself, I wasn’t paying attention. I was thinking myself like about the baby. And I was like, “you know, I am glad that I, I, I did that and learned some pretty like hefty skills.” I also learned there’s four different sounds four or five, I think was four, I think, we’re gonna go with five because I don’t really remember. I just know there’s a couple of different sounds a baby makes with certain things like feeding, when they need to change when they need to be burped. There’s different sounds whenever they need all those things and as I kept going to the project, I learned to identify those sounds. And I was like, “Hmm”. And so one day, I was like, I got the sound from the baby. And I was like, “Oh, it needs to be fed”. And I was like, “Oh, I’m getting good at this.” But it was definitely a little stressful and tired. But it was very, very helpful. One, one day like I just didn’t, I didn’t get sleep. I was really tired from practice and rehearsal, because I had Wizard of Oz for musical theater at that time. And one of my friends was like, she’s like, “Hey, girl, I see you’re very tired. Would you like would you would you like me to take the baby and you go rest” and I was like, “thank you so much.” So she took the baby for first period. Well, I just slept on the floor till class ended. And so that was definitely help. uh, friends, I would say definitely and community if you like, do have a younger child or like you’re like a single parent. I do suggest like, having someone around like maybe a parent or like friends who you know would like help you with the kid because it’s it’s, it’s a lot when parents tell you it’s a lot. It’s a lot. But it’s a it’s a magical moment to say even if it’s a robot. It’s very magical. So I definitely do enjoy being around kids. It really opens your mind up to different things like, you know, if you weren’t really I’ve noticed, friends of mine or like maybe aunts and uncles who don’t have kids, their mindset is very different. It’s their mindsets really more so tailored to them. And like maybe adults, but not really tailored to younger teenagers and kids after that. People who are around teenagers to kids, their minds are very, very different from those who are not. I’ve noticed the ones who are around more children, they’re more they’re more creative and playful. They have like a, like a sense of light in them. When they’re like around younger, youngers uh peers. uh, it’s I don’t really know how to explain it. um, there. I don’t know, I’m just gonna go with they’re more playful and like, their daily activities of just like being an adult. They’re more playful. And then versus the other ones. The other ones see everything like realistically, and I’m like, sometimes you need to imagine out of the box. And sometimes you just need to be around kids. Because when they say it’s never a dull moment, you never know what they’re gonna say. It’s never a dull moment. So it’s really fun.
I: I agree with that. I think, I think kids remind you of like the simpler side of life.
P: Yes.
I: The more, like you said, the more playful.
P: Exactly
I: So i think, i think that was a good analysis.
16:30
P: A kid could go outside and like maybe capture like a butterfly or like a caterpillar and bring it to you and be like, oh my goodness, like, it’s their pride and joy. And you’re just like, “oh my gosh, yeah, you’re right”. Like, you see what they see. You see, like, like, if they capture a butterfly, they see that butterflies individuality with their detailing. No butterfly has the same pattern on their wings. Same color. Yes. But no, no pattern is the same for a butterfly. So then the kids sees that. And they’re like, “Oh, my goodness. And they’re like, it’s so cool”. And then the adults like, “Oh, yea it’s a butterfly”, but the ones who are around kids are like, “oh my goodness, I see exactly what you mean with that pattern” like, like, it’s so cool. And then they may, maybe get into like, things like that, like it helps them branch um out to things maybe like they that they like like, like bugs sports, or I don’t know, hockey dance or something like that. It’s definitely interesting. I, I, I’d say.
I: I agree. And it’s almost like you’re experiencing things for the first time all over again, whenever you’re around kids, and they’re discovering something.
P: Yeah,
I: You’re right there with them.
17:39
P: Every moment that like you experience something new with that kid, it’s different. You expect something that you experienced last time, but it’s not going to be the same. It’s different. So it’s like, um, oh, what would you call it? It’s like when you’re in a maze, and the walls change. So you expect to go one way and get the same thing. But instead, you’re put in a completely different room of like, a maze. And you’re like, “Okay, I gotta figure out what to do now”. That’s, that’s, that’s how I see it is like, I’m just like, you know, changing laws.
I: Yeah. All right. Tell me a little bit about volunteering. You mentioned volunteering. What is what is that like?
18:18
P: So um volunteering. Honestly. It’s really fun. Um, the people you meet. It’s, it’s definitely a game changer volunteering. I really didn’t used to, like, volunteer as much as I do now. But um the moment I turned 16, I was like, okay, I get to work up in my kids upstreet. I get to be the worship leader. Because I I love dance. I’ve always I’ve always been a dancer. And I was like, I was like, “You know what, they need a worship leader. I love dance. And I know most of these kids here, why don’t I help out?” And so I was like, “honestly, yeah, I’m gonna help out.” And so I’ve been helping out for I don’t know, since I was 16 in my church. Um, but volunteering is definitely fun. It definitely helps out the community a lot. Um, cause there’s people who are like, “Hey, we can’t get to this. So we have no one for this”. And you’re like, “oh, I can do it”. And they’re like, “cool. That helps us out so much.” Even if you think it’s something that’s really small, can be a big help to some random person or someone at your church or just, I don’t know, maybe a family. Um, one thing I do, I would like to say is that I enjoy about volunteering is the people I meet, like, it could be kids that go to my school, and I’m like, “Oh, my goodness, hey”, and I get to make a new friend because I volunteered for something. Or it could be a long lost friend or just someone I have no idea who they are. But they’re a friend I haven’t met yet. Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. That’s how I see it.
I: Oh that’s wonderful.
P: Volunteering is– sorry I cut you off. Volunteering is um—
I: No no no, i cut you off, i’m sorry!
20:00
P: I don’t know. I want to say it’s my superpower. But I don’t really think it’s my superpower. I’m very extroverted. So I, I like meeting new people every day. It brings it brings joy. But volunteering is, well, my superpower. I I like helping people. I like being helpful. Definitely one thing about volunteering a lot is like I volunteer at my school for Cen10 Ren. That’s our like, Centennial Renaissance group where we help out with academic luncheons, all sorts of things like powderpuff assemblies. And then for being in choir, I’m also in a varsity choir, where we do national anthem gigs where we just volun-, theyre like, “Hey, would you guys be willing to volunteer for this?” And we’re like, “yes, of course”. And we go places like the Field of Dreams, where they’re extending it, we sing national anthem for um well, that that event. And it helps them out because they have someone to sing it. And then uh it’s it’s it’s a great show for them. And we do our volunteer work. And let’s see what else what else do I volunteer for? I do my church, school. Um, there’s so many clubs I, I always forget, oh, I used to do FFA. I don’t do it much anymore. I don’t really do it much anymore cause I I’ve kind of changed that path. I was like, “no, no”, it’s like, I’ll still help out but I definitely for FFA, I used to be in it. They, there was lots of volunteer stuff in that and they’re like, “hey, we need some people to build, like planters for uh Columbia”. The, the elementary shcool thats there right now that we’re sharing with Centennial. And our FFA was like, “hey, we’ll do it”. And then our teacher was like, “hey, we need people to come in, like, help and build this will who would be willing to”, and it didn’t even I didn’t even take a thought I was just like, “I’m gonna do it”. I was like, “Hey, I’m free that day, I will help you”. And it definitely helped out a lot because the job went a lot quicker. There was a lot of team building with uh a lot of people we did it with because I had no idea who most of the kids were, who came. There were some FFA members I had like, never met and I was like, “hmm okay”, but there’s a lot of team building. Um definitely, I definitely like the team building and like building that little plant setter because it definitely helped uh like it helped me because I could use it towards uh dance my dance team I could could use it and then choir like team building in there definitely helped me with like FFA like oh how to like talk to people. Because in choir you got to be social, cause you have choir clinics, you have national anthem gigs. So you you kind of got to figure out how to start a conversation. And so that helped with us FFA starting conversations of how to communicate. And then the team building and bonding skills that we had learned in FFA, like just building something helps me in poms. So I can communicate with like my team. And, um you know, help them, give them like constructive criticism, but not like in a mean way. Like, “oh, you got to do this”. But like, in a, “here’s some glows and grows” a glow is what you’re doing great. A grow is something you need to work on. And you can give them a grow, that maybe you’re also struggling with to you’re like, “hey, you should work on this and do this.” And then they’re if they’re feeling discouraged, be like, “Don’t worry, I struggle with this too”. And then you can learn together, especially like glows and grows with that I really enjoy. Sometimes my teammates struggle a bit more than others. And I did this last year, I probably do it again. But I took some my teammates who were really, really struggling with like the new sidelines, and they’re brand new. They were freshmen, they were rookies. And I was like, “Hey, let’s just let’s just meet at a park”. It’s just gonna be us, no one else. We’re gonna have my mom there to supervise, but she’s gonna be doing her own thing. And we’re just gonna, we’re just gonna work on what we need to work on. We’re gonna work on sidelines, we’re gonna, we’re gonna stay here until as long as you guys want. So we can work on what you guys would like to fix. And they’re like, “Oh, my goodness, thank you”. And I was like, “of course”. And definitely by the next game, they were a lot more confident. Because they, they they got the routine down, they got their turn technique down. And I noticed a big confidence in in them like before they were they weren’t too sure they were like “hmm”. And I was like, “okay, that’s okay. We all start out like that sometimes some point”. And so by the next game that we went to, they, they had their expressions they had their sas and they, their confidence. It’s like, they became a butterfly and I was like, “oh my goodness, they’ve” and they’ve grown so much to and I definitely hope that they continue to pass it down uh as like juniors now to the new freshmen. And I should probably do it again with our freshmen now because I can see some are struggling again. So I’m like, “Hmm I should, I should probably do that I gotta find a time.” Like, just even if it’s one on one, or if it’s in a group, we can all struggle together. We can, we can work on, um, one can help them like one may be good at turns, yes. But we can work on our turns together, grow together, and just and just bond. Even when we’re doing that team uh, I was helping my teammates uh, with their sidelines before that first football game, even after we worked on it, and I was like, “Hey, are we all doing good? And we all feel good?” And they’re like, “Yeah, we do.” And I was like, “well, we have a couple of minutes for like, Hey, I got plenty of time. What do you guys want to do?” And they’re like, “We should play Night at the Museum”. And I was like, “Oh, my gosh, yes”. And it was also a good team bonding, because we weren’t really as comfortable with each other. And then by the end of it, we were like, like, sassily, like making funny poses on each other, you know, looking all goofy and just just giggling together. And I was like, yeah, that’s, that’s a great moment that I enjoy. It’s one that I look back on. And I’m like, I helped them do that. I did that. And they, they, they’ve grown so much. And I’m like, “I help that”. But at the same time, I’m like, I don’t want to take credit for them pushing themselves. I’m like, I just gave them a little push. And they did the rest kind of thing.
I: Very rewarding and you give them the opportunity to grow.
P: Yeah,
I: That’s wonderful.
P: All right, you talk about dance can I ask what kind of dance it is?
26:43
I: Um, so it’s poms. Um, so poms is it’s like, it’s kind of like cheer, but it’s not I’m sure, people will mistake it for cheer because we have pom poms. and i understand that. But what we do is there’s different categories and poms. There’s poms, there’s jazz, there’s hip hop, there’s lyrical, there’s contemporary, there’s a whole bunch of different categories. There’s military, never heard of that one. But Poms is, it’s like, it’s like hip hop and jazz together. Um, you have definitely a lot of different moves but you’re, it’s i don’t know how to explain it. You’re kind of like military when you dance. But it’s with the flow like you’re sharp, but you’re flowing through the movements. And your facials are just the biggest thing. Like, that’s the best part of it. But poms, I’ve done that for four years. Um, I definitely enjoy it because I’ve been dancing for about 14 years altogether, because I used, I started when I was three. So I did ballet and a couple other dance stuff for 12 years. And then COVID hit and I was like, I’ve been doing this and I have been talking about changing my dance style. I never quit dancing, but I just, I never I just changed my dentist. I was like, my never quit but I just I just gave it a little remodeling. And so I tried poms, and I really, really love it. Um, I decided to try out for my poms team freshman year, and I made it and I was like, “Oh, my goodness”. And like the experience that year it was COVID year. Yes. So it was a little bit different. But everyone I met every game I went to, I was just like, Yeah, I feel like I belong here. This is This is my place where I can unwind, you know how like you just like you’re can be very stressful throughout the day. Or if like things maybe something didn’t go right, maybe someone’s not being the nicest to you. And then you have that one thing that just, you can relax and just pull your heart out into and just have a great time and just giggle with it. That that was poms. For me. That’s definitely it’s only been four years. But hey, you do a lot in four years. So poms has definitely been that for me throughout high school. And I, I enjoy it. um, and I never thought out of the like four years of poms that I’ve been doing it my senior year I would make Captain.
I: Congratulation!
29:08
P: Thank you! I went into it, like our coach said, “Hey, tryouts for Captain are are going to be this day. You have to have a speech prepared and everything” and I was like, “Cool. I can do that speech. I can” I asked my English teacher, I was like, “Hey, would you please be willing to help me like write my captain speech? And like make sure it makes sense.” And she’s like, “Yeah, of course”. And so she helped me write it and I’m not I’m not I’m not one for speeches. I can talk all day long. But when it gets to public speaking I’m a I’m a little bit like a mouse but it’s okay. We all have our, our, our grows. But um, I went into that Captain addition thinking I’m not going to have the mindset of I already have it because to me that just doesn’t seem fair to like others around me who are like probably the same as me like “Oh My gosh, like, am I gonna get this?” I definitely went in thinking, I will try my best because one of my old ballet teachers told me “never say I can’t do it. Always tell yourself, I will try my best.” And so I went in and I was like, “It’s okay if I don’t get it, but I will try my best.” And I did. And I got through, my little public speaking fear for that moment. And I did a good job, I think. And here we are, I ended up being Captain. And definitely every practice, and every teammate I talked to. I’m like, I don’t want to be that person who’s like, “hmm you have to do this casue I’m Captain. now” No, I want to be that person who’s like, “I’m here if you need me”. Don’t see me as, Yes, I am Captain but don’t see me as that see me more as a shoulder to cry on or a friend, you can come talk to like, just just that person you can come talk to. And I think that’s the reason why I also earned the nickname of mamma —– from my friends.
I: Awww Cute.
29:28
P: Because of that I come off, like very motherly, but I’m like, “You know what, I liked that nickname”. I will wear it to the proudest of my abilities, because I, it just shows exactly what I want it to show and I’m like, or like, exactly come off as you know. And so I’m like, “Yeah, I am a momma ——-“. I’ll give him rides, I’ll make sure we’re prepared for anything. I’ll make sure. Like, if you’re struggling and I’m subject, I’ll help you doesn’t, I don’t think I’ll be the best in certain subjects. But I can still help you with whatever you need, or I can help you get help. On a side note, just not even being a captain, I just one of my friends. She’s a foreign exchange student. Uh, she’s from Germany. She’s so sweet. Um, but her her first host family really didn’t work out for her. And she’s like, “Hey, so I’m living with a counselor, but do you think you could help me find a host family?” And I was like, “Yeah, of course.” And so I helped her find a host family and um she’s doing great. She’s, she’s like, “I love this host family. They’re very sweet. Their kids are sweet.” I’m like, “that’s amazing.” But one thing I hold, like, the dearest to my heart is when she came into class. Like, I think it was it was the Monday she came into class on a Monday. And I was in there and I was sitting there and I get up to go fill my water. And I see her come in. And I have like a bright smile on my face. And I’m like, “so how did it go?” And she comes up, and she just gives me a big hug and says, “Thank you very much for this. I really appreciate your help.” But I was like, I was like, I’m gonna cry because it worked out. And she’s so excited. And I was like, like, I don’t know, if it’s like, I don’t know, it was like a, like a happy crying moment. Like, like, “oh my goodness”, like, like, just pure joy like that. That just happened. Like in that moment. You’re like, “oh my goodness”, like, like, the joy of helping someone for-, to find something or do something. And then that kindness comes back to you a little ways. Like, you give kindness and kindness comes around. I definit believe I definitely believe like, wholeheartedly that is so true. Because if you give it, it’ll come back to you in maybe little ways. But it could be greater ways to you, you know? So,
I: Yes.
P: Yeah.
I: That is, I, I’m feeling the joy through you. Which is wonderful.
P: I’m definitely very optimistic in a lot of things and I like to be it it it shows a different perspective so, its its very nice.
I: I think it’s a very great thing to be so, um, we’re we’re at time so, um is there anything else you’d like to add?
P: Um, no not really, I don’t think so.
I: Alright well that was wonderful thank you.
P: Yeah of course.
[33:52]
New Mexico Border Spanish Corpus 