I had the pleasure to interview Violeta Gonzalez Toro--ELL Volunteer and Leader. In the first part of her life, Violeta grew up in Columbia, but later moved to Princeton nearing high school. Her life was quite different in each country. Because of Columbia's mostly homogenized population in respect to ethnicity, Violeta didn't need to help students overcome language barriers. However, with America's significant immigrant and hispanic population, she sought out a new goal: to both help tutor students in difficult subjects and help them overcome language barriers in their classes.
At PHS, Violeta is excelling in her service as an ELL volunteer, helping countless students thrive in arduous classes. During this pandemic, Violeta and her group have found creative solutions to help students in the virtual environment. Though face-to-face interaction was impossible, Violeta set up specialized personal meetings with the students each day after school in order to take them through the topics covered.
In the future, Violeta hopes to integrate her fascination with psychology and her volunteerism to make a genuine impact on her community. How she specifically reorganized her group around COVID, continued to excel in her classes, and make a difference is found in our interview...
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