Maribel Diaz, a senior, has been one of my best friends since sophomore year. We met in fourth period at the beginning of the school year. I remember meeting her for the first time and I felt very supported because she helped me with a very difficult assignment in class. Maribel is one of the most selfless people I know. We connect on similar interests such as clubs, food, and similar Central American backgrounds.
I was surprised to learn her backstory. She was born and raised in Alabama, and moved to San Francisco to live with her brother, Adolfo, who’s twenty-five. Maribel didn’t have the best relationship with her mother, so she moved in with her brother when she was just ten years old.
It’s been about seven years since she moved in with her brother. They live in an apartment in the Mission District.
“Since I’ve gotten here I’ve been able to focus more on myself and school than when I lived with my mom.” When Maribel lived with her mom and her younger siblings, “I had to spend more on the well-being of my siblings instead of worrying about my well-being.”
Even though she has difficult schoolwork and other personal responsibilities, she does her best to help her brother.
This summer she had a job working for Youthworks four hours a day, Monday through Thursday. Maribel is a committed and hard worker. She helps out her brother by giving him rent money to show her appreciation for everything he has done for her.
She views her brother as the parent she never really had growing up. Maribel wants to repay her brother by going to college and being successful like he’s always wanted for her.
Going to college has not always been on Maribel’s to-do list. She looks up to her brother because he attended college at UC Berkeley and graduated in four years. Now he has a stable job.
“Now I’m a senior and I’m applying to college and will be applying to Berkeley, since my brother inspired me to.”
