In the spirit of celebrating our Graduating Class of 2024, here are some shining examples of ILTexas Eagles! Congratulations, seniors! 

 

Jonathan Carrasquillo, ILTexas Arlington-Grand Prairie High School Senior

"I’m going to Texas A&M University in the Fall!”

“The benefit of coming here for seven years is the amount of leadership I’ve gained since I’ve been here since 7th grade. Because if I didn’t come to ILTexas, I don’t think I’d be stepping up as a leader with confidence... I’m also in JROTC and we always bring back and relate to those leadership traits and principles.” 

“I am on an NROTC Scholarship and I’m going to do their Corps and then after I’m going to commission into the Marine Corps.”

 

Avery Brown, ILTexas Arlington-Grand Prairie High School Senior 

"I’ll be going to Texas Tech University!”

"The community and the overall energy of ILTexas really has shaped me into growing more confident in my leadership skills.”

“I would say the positions of leadership that I’ve been in - being a cheer captain, being captain of the volleyball team, certain things like that has really shaped me into knowing what it really is to build a great team.”

“I am also in JROTC. I’ve been in JROTC since my freshman year. That is also a class that’s helped me for leadership. Being a platoon commander for my class. It’s very enlightening to see certain things, just people who look up to me and certain things like that."

“Going to DSAP (Distinguished Student Ambassador Program) has really just involved me with ILTexas, and other people around the world. There are still some people to this day that have been emailing me from the DSAP trip we have talked to. They’ve been checking in on me, making sure I have everything that I need to be good in life. And so that trip just opened up a whole new window of opportunities, and a whole side of life I didn’t even know existed.”

 

 

Kiet Ma, ILTexas Keller-Saginaw High School Senior 

"I took positions in Student Council, and Chinese Honor Society as well as our API Student Association. And I think the reason I wanted to be involved in those and how it made my senior year what it was today was because of the community I’ve interacted with and the people I’ve been able to meet.”

“I started an origami club to kind of break the mental heath stigma in high school… Diffusing the tension between mental health tensions and being a high schooler through arts and crafts and just providing a safe space for people where you could also work on something with your hands while you’re talking with your friends.” 

"Being required to learn both Spanish and Chinese, I’ve really increased how I view the world... because not only is it the class and the curriculum it’s also the teachers because they infuse their own cultures and backgrounds into the lesson plans and making sure that we have a connection to it as well.” 

"Columbia is just one of those really big schools, one that you dream of when you’re a kid when you think of college… So when I got that and I opened it with my parents, I opened the letter and I started screaming… I think being a first generation and seeing that look in my mom’s face, and it wasn’t even the acceptance letter itself it was seeing her look at me with like that pure love and adoration. She still jokes about moving to New York with me which I hope isn’t a joke because I’d love to have her there!”

 

Noemy Arreguin, ILTexas Keller-Saginaw High School Senior

"I’m in National Honor Society... I’m also in the art department and I’ve won I think three or two awards for it.”

“I am a first generation [to go to college] of my family so I think ILTexas has prepared me for being the leader in my family I guess. Going to college, the school gives a lot of nice opportunities to get into nice colleges and to get financial help. That helps me set the example for my siblings and my cousins back in Mexico, so it’s been a nice opportunity.” 

 

Kaelyn Soto, ILTexas Keller-Saginaw High School Senior

“Overall it’s [ILTexas] definitely has gotten me out of my comfort zone. With all the projects that we do, especially in leadership the OBS project, it’s definitely gotten out of my comfort zone and being an introvert and not sociable, it’s definitely given me practice overall with socializing and actually planning stuff for the community so it’s been really cool.”

“I think overall it’s changed me into a different perspective of leadership. I didn’t really know much of it beforehand and once I entered this school I learned so many different traits about it. And languages too just really expanded my mindset and knowledge of it.”

“I love the international festival is one of my favorites. I think ILTexas really brings out that life in different cultures and countries that other public schools don’t show. So just expressing the food, the dances, the languages; I think it’s just really awesome and actually has inspired me to continue that in college.” 

"I am going to Middlebury in Vermont and studying architecture studies hopefully. Super excited, huge change from Texas. But they have this language program and ILTexas has also really inspired me to push me to continue that so I will likely continue that in college, maybe minor in a language.”

"It’s really surreal and nice to see how far I’ve come and just see how challenging it was in a good way.”