New Student Government Association President Marianna Flores, 19, knows firsthand the challenges that come with learning a new language and finding her place in the community. When she was just 14 her family moved from El Salvador to North Carolina. “I wanted to talk and have a voice, but not being able to speak English was holding me back,” She said. “I worked every week trying to learn as much as I could and after six months I began to understand.”
These days Flores is using her voice to advocate for students and members of A-B Tech’s growing Hispanic community. A second-semester business student, she helped to start a Spanish Language club Nuestra Voz this past fall. It was at this time she began attending Student-Government organized events like outdoor salsa dancing that was part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Flores realized she loved the feeling of being immersed in the college community and decided to get more involved.
“I’d been very involved in my high school,” she said. “I was the Secretary of our SGA. I felt that after four years, now it’s time to step out a little more.”
Flores credits her parents with encouraging her to step out and reach for her dreams. Her father, an engineer, owned his own company in El Salvador and from the time she was a young girl, she came with him to work. “He taught me how to manage business and money,” She said, adding that she’d like to have her own fashion design company one day.
For now, Flores is focusing her energy on building up student involvement. Having experienced the repercussions of COVID-19 as a high school student, Flores believes that her generation is still suffering from isolation and social challenges related to too much time at home.
Students who are studying online, she believes, can feel especially isolated. “They don’t reach out to their professors. They don’t ask for help. They’re isolated. They’re used to being by themselves in front of a computer and being alone.”
Flores hopes to help ease this isolation by working with the Student Government Association to design events that cater to students’ socioemotional needs.
“I want to reach out to help people and let them know there’s a lot of things they can do for their mental health, for education, and community. They can be more involved. Even students studying online. I want to have them come to campus. To meet their professors face to face”.