Three Latina friends, two from Ecuador and one from Mexico, all currently at LFHS together. Zuri Martínez Perez, Marcela Salinas, and Flor Zea came to Lake Forest in different years but are taking on the Lake Forest High School experience together.

Zuri arrived from Mexico last year on September 8th, 2021. She immigrated to Lake Forest with her mom and brother. Until the end of October 2021, she felt very nervous about talking to anyone, “I felt it was better to be alone than to have friends,” said Martínez Pérez. She traveled from Mexico to Lake Forest by plane. Her grandmother accompanied her for a few days to help make her stay more comfortable. Zuri thought they were going back to Mexico soon, but her mom decided to stay in Lake Forest. She started learning English last year in her class for English Learners with teacher Shannon Ramírez.

“Although Zuri knows a little English, I work with some teachers like the history one because some materials have to be modified,” Ramírez said.

Zuri entered the United States on a tourist visa because her grandfather originally wanted to come to the United States on vacation.

Although she doesn’t speak much English, she likes to participate in clubs at school, like the chess club, the Spanish club, and sometimes the Chinese club. “Even though she didn’t know any English when she started school in October last year, she played basketball and badminton for the school, I think that was very brave of her,” Ramirez said.

Flor landed on September 12, 2020 and also made it here on an airplane. She started in person classes in January 2021 and only had one friend. It’s her first year at LFHS and she already has more friends than ever before. Flor came to the United States with her mom, dad, older brother, older sister, and younger brother. Flor entered the country with her permanent residence. She entered the United States because the pandemic in Ecuador was very brutal. They only entered the United States to flee the pandemic, but ended up staying. “Flor wasn’t exposed to a lot of English because of the online school, so she couldn’t interact with teachers or other students in class,” Ramírez said.

Marcela traveled from Ecuador and arrived on July 12 of this year also by airplane. “Marcela and Zuri are the closest friends I have,” Salinas said. This school environment was something very different for her; she is also the newest of the three in Lake Forest. When Marcela entered LFHS, she began working with teacher Ramírez because she didn’t know any English, just like her two friends. Moving here was very stressful. “Sometimes I’m afraid to go to some classes because I don’t know the language yet,” Salinas said.

Marcela also entered the United States with a tourist visa. Her dad and brother had been here for months before she arrived. Her father could no longer work in Ecuador because there is no accessible work, jobs were only accessible for people under 30 years old. Marcela and her mother came to reunite with her father and brother. Marcela and her mother stayed because her father suggested that it was a good opportunity to live in the United States.

Marcela and Flor have known each other since they were babies. Flor’s mom and Marcela’s mom were best friends and have known each other since they were in school. When Marcela and Flor were born, their mothers did everything together. Marcela and Flor weren’t really best friends when they were little and living in Ecuador. They began to have a closer friendship when Marcela came to the United States from Ecuador. Their close relationship began when their moms and the girls went on a trip to explore some museums through the church they attend. As it happened, they were assigned to share a room during their stay at the hotel. It was since then that they have maintained a very close friendship and consistent communication.

Although emigrating from another country and not knowing how to speak the language is very difficult, they are in this together. Sure, Marcela and Flor have known each other for a long time, but Zuri has become very close and integrated with them. “This year I see Zuri really enjoying having Flor and Marcela and I know that they all spend a lot of time together,” said Ramírez.