When her parents moved to Floral Park when she was 13, she started in the Sewanhaka School District, and it was around that time, she said, that things started to click in school. "I was just used to be being with my grandparents and my brother." "I used to get into fights but that's because I was not used to being around a lot of kids," she said. And simply adjusting to being in a school setting for the first time was a struggle for her. 33 in Queens but she didn't speak any English. When she arrived in New York, Lopez said she was enrolled in the fourth grade at P.S.
For nearly four years, she said they were separated from their parents, who were already living in the United States, until their folks made the decision to bring them here. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.īack in their native country, Lopez and her younger brother, Ronald, worked preparing tacos that were sold out of food trucks, she said.