Ana Melendez has been seen as a leader in many different capacities around Heritage High School, and now she’s ready to make another trailblazing step as a first-generation college student in her family. This road wasn’t easy for her, as she made her way through multiple tough stretches in her life.

Ana faced a difficult transition phase early in her life, when she moved to the United States from Mexico at the age of 10. “When I first came here, it was a little bit of a struggle due to the language barrier,” Ana says. “I had a lot of friends that spoke Spanish, so they helped me translate all of the work.”  

Ana also received help from her English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in elementary and middle school as the schoolwork became more challenging, but she continued to work on the language until she became fluent while in high school.

Once Ana hit high school, she was faced with another tough transitory period, as she entered her freshman year in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, her stepfather was also diagnosed with ALS. Ana and her mother became caretakers for her stepfather before he passed during her junior year, and she said that it was a difficult time. “Sometimes, it was difficult to take care of him,” Ana says. “He started to develop anxiety and depression, which made his illness become more advanced, so he became paralyzed faster than he was supposed to.”

Ana was able to find support from her counselor and teachers at school, and when she was able to return to school in-person, started to join clubs like Sin Limites. 

'Really proud'

Sin Limites is the Spanish club at the school, and many of the members have recently moved to the United States. She has served as president of the club for three years, and has enjoyed seeing the club grow. Ana initially learned about Sin Limites at the tail end of 9th grade, when she was contacted by former Heritage assistant principal Bonnie Mwanda. 

Ms. Mwanda wanted Ana to take the lead with the club, and Ana agreed. “At first we had eight to 10 members in the club,” she says. “But throughout the years, the club has grown to more than 100 members, and a lot of leadership members as well. I’m really proud of that.”

Ana continued to find ways to be a leader around school, as she was also selected to be a Husky Ambassador and Junior Marshal.

Husky Ambassadors are responsible for introducing new students to the school and helping them become adapted.

“When I was asked to do those things, I felt really proud of myself,” Ana says. “I felt like I had done well throughout my high school years, and I knew that you had to be recommended by teachers to become a Husky Ambassador and Junior Marshal. So, I feel like my teachers got a good impression of who I am and how I work with my peers and teachers. I feel really proud of myself that I was able to do more in school and help everyone. What I liked most about being a Husky Ambassador is that we welcome students that come from different parts of the state, the country, and outside of the country into the school.”

Ana also followed her academic passions by joining the History and Science honor societies. In these clubs, she was able to pursue independent studies and do a research project on a topic that interested her. For Ana, she found an opportunity to do research on ALS.

“In the three years that I’ve been in the club, I’ve usually researched different illnesses,” Ana says. “Last year, I chose my stepdad’s illness to try to raise awareness. This year, I chose pancreatic cancer, and I was able to interview a patient that’s going through this illness. With their permission, I’m also using as much of this information that I can to let students know about their situation.”

One of the projects that Ana did within the History Honor Society was research on the 1947 case Mendez v. Westminster, a case regarding a Mexican-American student being barred from attending a public school in California, and eventually led to the desegregation of public schools in the state.

Three inspiring teachers

Ana is now planning to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and will major in biology with a focus on pre-med, inspired by the memory of her stepfather, and other members of her family who work in medical professions.

“I think what drew me into this, is that I have family members who are dentists and eye doctors,” Ana says. “I want to specialize in neurology, because I find study of the brain interesting. I would like to keep pursuing that, and maybe learn more about ALS.”

Ana noted that there were three teachers that she felt were influential in her academic career, Jennifer Pinkard at Baileywick Elementary School, Leah Harkness at West Millbrook Middle School, and Caroline Valentine at Heritage High School. “In elementary school, Miss Pinkard was there for me and helped me when I had problems,” Ana says. “When I was in middle school, and I wasn’t able to understand anything and I was struggling in classes, Miss Harkness took her time to take me aside and explain things with me. I was actually able to be in a Google Meet with her, and talk to the eighth graders that would be transitioning to high school, and I’m really thankful she picked me to do that.”

“And, Miss Valentine was my 10th grade biology teacher. I can say that biology was one of my easier subjects because she was able to explain things to me. She also let me help my peers that didn’t know English. She gave me time to help them, and gave me personal time as well to do my homework. I’m really thankful to the three of them.”

With graduation behind her, she wants to encourage the underclassmen of her school to get involved in the school’s community.

“Even though maybe the first two years of high school will be confusing, I think they should get involved in school, and get to know other people,” Ana says. “They should take advantage of the opportunities that the school brings. Especially clubs that take field trips out of state and go to colleges. I think that’s something that’s really good, because they can find out what colleges can offer, and they can find their interests.”