{"id":370,"date":"2022-04-20T15:19:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T19:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/?p=370"},"modified":"2022-04-25T15:33:05","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T19:33:05","slug":"raul-arevalo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/small-town-big-world\/raul-arevalo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Education of Raul Arevalo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Profile Text: Katie Johnston<\/em>\nAudio Highlight: Hannah Perry<\/em>\nEdited by: Sam Purkiss<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re moving to the US,\u201d his parents said one day. Arevalo first took the news in stride, only to later realize, \u201cOh wait, I don\u2019t know anybody there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then when I came here, I went to school and I was like, \u2018Oh, right! English<\/em>!\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Cross-country moves are always difficult. A new home, a new school, and added distance between you and your loved ones can make the journey daunting for any American citizen. Such change pales in comparison to international migration, where a foreign home could require learning another language, adjusting to a vastly different political climate, and feeling alienated from native-born neighbors. Raul Arevalo Ramirez, a nineteen-year-old from Storm Lake, has done both. When he was in second grade, Arevalo and his family emigrated from Atotonilco El Alto in Jalisco, Mexico, to Storm Lake. He remembers the move being difficult and, worse yet, sudden. \u201cWe\u2019re moving to the US,\u201d his parents said one day. Arevalo first took the news in stride, only to later realize, \u201cOh wait, I don\u2019t know anybody there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then when I came here, I went to school and I was like, \u2018Oh, right! English<\/em>!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frightened that he would be unable to make connections with his classmates, given the language barrier, Arevalo dove into his studies feverishly. He recalls being frustrated by the extra English classes that he needed to take throughout elementary school in order to catch up with the other students. It certainly required effort beyond the expectations teachers put on his peers, but his hard work paid off and he \u201ceventually got the hang of it.\u201d These days, Arevalo studies computer science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, a testament to his remarkable perseverance and comprehensive grasp on a language once unfamiliar to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, language wasn\u2019t the only difference between Storm Lake and Atotonilco El Alto that Arevalo experienced. In Mexico, he said, children \u201cmostly spend time outside, do things outside.\u201d It was only when he moved to the United States that he realized that there were other ways to entertain himself in the colder Midwestern climate, things like video games or puzzles, which he discovered and \u201cenjoyed a lot.\u201d As he grew older and his English improved, Arevalo also found ways to occupy his time through school by participating in clubs and organizations.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His work with Mesenbrink highlights the importance of mentors in a young person\u2019s life. Their influence can lead to lifelong interests . . . <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In middle school, he joined the band, choir, theater, and robotics club, all of which continue to be a part of his life today. At Johns Hopkins, Arevalo was involved in a student-led production of The Drowsy Chaperone<\/em>, in which he played the role of Aldolpho, a self-obsessed Latin lothario. The role required Arevalo to take on one of the show\u2019s most dynamic and challenging songs as a solo. He said that he enjoys theater because he likes \u201cstepping into the shoes of someone else, to see what it\u2019s like through their eyes and get a new perspective on things.\u201d He readily admitted that he had to change a lot when he moved from Mexico, perhaps a reason he values theater\u2019s ability to transport its participants and audiences into different perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Arevalo concentrates intently on an experiment.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Another interest of his, robotics, opened doors for him and allowed him to make connections in the Storm Lake community. At the end of 2020, he and a friend joined AmeriCorps in town. In his position, Arevalo worked with children to teach them about robotics just as Angela Mesenbrink, faculty advisor of the robotics club at Storm Lake High School, had taught him. Arevalo attributes much of his success to Mesenbrink, saying, \u201cShe would always be there just to talk outside of school or also just to help me understand something that I didn\u2019t understand.\u201d His work with Mesenbrink highlights the importance of mentors in a young person\u2019s life. Their influence can lead to lifelong interests and, in this case, charitable pursuits. Though he took a leave of absence from AmeriCorps to move to Baltimore for college, he plans to serve again this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on his resume, Arevalo seems anything but timid. Though he said he had to put in hard work to meet people and make friends in Storm Lake, it paid off. It\u2019s a good thing, too, he said, since his social network has helped him avoid burnout, and to fall back in love with learning. \u201cI was taking school too seriously to where I couldn\u2019t enjoy it,” noted Arevalo. That drive stemmed, in part, from his family. Though going to college is not always feasible for children of immigrants, Arevalo\u2019s parents stoked his desire. While his parents were supportive of his extracurricular goals and encouraged them, he says the family motto was constantly, \u201cYou gotta go to college, you gotta get a good job, you gotta make money.\u201d Luckily, he had his friends to help him navigate this intense pressure, \u201cand they showed me there\u2019s actually a balance between [rigorous study] and you can actually have fun while learning,\u201d<\/strong> he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s something very important to me because that\u2019s where I found out that I actually enjoyed doing it. That\u2019s why I came to such a big school with difficult courses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johns Hopkins is indeed a big school, especially compared to his high school and Storm Lake\u2019s Buena Vista University. So, what convinced Arevalo to make the move? \u201cSenior year, we were talking during physics about college stuff, just \u2019cause it was one of those things, and the teacher brought up how one of his students attended Johns Hopkins, and he said that it has quite a few good programs, and we started talking about it, and I guess I got interested. Then I got an email from Johns Hopkins, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, I should really look into this more, and I looked into it and decided [to] apply. I heard back around mid-March, and I got accepted. I was very happy, and by the end, when I received all my decisions, I decided. It\u2019s not within Iowa, so I guess I\u2019ll get a new perspective on things,\u201d he explained.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n