GHS sophomore, May was born in Morelia, Mexico on December 13th, 2001. At a young age she moved to Rio Bravo and lived there before moving back to Morelia to live with her family. May grew up in a beautiful and diverse city filled with tons of friendly people. She said “ Even if you didn’t know someone, we still greeted them and said “hi”, strangers were treated as friends. In Mexico, May said “everybody loved to dance”. At school, children would come together and dance at assemblies and gatherings. They would eat foods such as tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas or May’s favorite chiquiles. Life in Mexico was much different from life in Goffstown. Coming to New Hampshire was like coming to a new world.

May’s mom reconnected with a close friend she had met many years ago from New Hampshire. She and her close friend fell in love and were in a long distance relationship. Soon after they married, and May along with her mom made the decision to move to New Hampshire. May said “ I packed so much that my bag broke when I got off the plane”. The flight was about 6 hours and they brought as much as they could. Furniture and larger belongings were left behind and they brought only what could fit into a bag. They arrived in New Hampshire on August 19th and May started her freshman year at Goffstown High School that September.

At the time May did not know how to speak English and going to a school with all English courses, was extremely challenging. She took English class in Mexico similar to how we take Spanish at GHS, but it only helped her a little bit. The English she learned in Mexico was extremely basic, so she didn’t have much experience with it. She said “It was interesting to listen and watch when I first came here”. School was very different, in Mexico “teachers were a lot more strict” she said. As the months passed bye, May was learning more and more. By the end of the year she was speaking fluent English. May’s good friend Katrina said “ May had learned so much, so fast”, and she also included that “May is always willing to help others”.

Although, she loves the seasons and landscape of New Hampshire, she misses Mexico very much. She is planning to visit her family in Mexico next summer. May said her advice to someone if they had to move like she did was “to be yourself”.