Jessica Javalera Spotlight: Know Yourself, Appreciate, and Work Hard
By: Sarah Alsaeedi
Jessica was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ and is currently a Sophomore in High School. Upon first meeting her, she appears to be a shy, soft spoken, average teenager. However, if you took a moment to get to know her, you would realize that she is far from average. You would see a future leader of society. She is a young woman that knows who she is, appreciates what she has been given, and is determined to put in as much effort as it takes to succeed in life.
Jessica loves her family. She has an older sister, two older brothers, and many relatives. One of her older brothers is a first-generation college student. She is also very aware of her Hispanic heritage and the sacrifices her family made immigrating to the U.S. to give her a better life. She values the time and effort they have put into her development and wants to do all she can to pay it forward.
A tragic event recently reminded Jessica of just how important family is. In July 2020, her grandfather passed away. Being so close with him, this was a challenging experience for Jessica, but she was able to find strength through her family. During this trial, her family worked together to support Jessica and comfort each other.
Although she is still young, Jessica has made her family proud in qualifying for a program from the Boys and Girls Hope Foundation, that provides tuition money for the students in financial need so they can attend prestigious private high schools. Jessica is currently going to Xavier College Preparatory where she is excelling in all of her classes (3.8 GPA). She is continually looking into the future and trying to improve herself to be ready for any opportunity that is available to her. When asked what she is currently focusing on this is what she said:
“I’ve been working and trying to improve on time management, getting out of my comfort zone, and using a planner. I have been struggling to manage my time to be able to do the things I enjoy in my free time because school takes up my time with the homework assignments. This is one of the reasons why my goal is to use a planner to be able to help me organize my time. I also have been very shy and timid it makes it difficult to interact with others and be able to give them advice when they need help. I enjoy helping others.”
Jessica has taken full advantage of the Valley Guardian Executive Leadership Program. She has attended all of the events and meets with her mentor regularly to aid in her development and help achieve her goals. She has not only learned a lot from the program, but she tries to share it with her family and friends. She says the program has helped her most with recognizing how to identify opportunities and take advantage of them, figure out who she is and what makes her happy.
I am proud to be coaching Jessica as I have learned so much about her which has helped me gain an insight about what motivation, dedication, and hard work truly looks like. Jessica is a bright student who strives to further her education and excel along the way. I am thankful to be working with Jessica and got the chance to know her story.
About the Author
Sarah Alsaeedi is a Success Coaching intern at LSA. She is currently a fourth
-year honors student at Arizona State University.