Student sees Crossroads as place of hope

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Juan Monsalve, a senior at Crossroads High School, has found a major difference in the education system here when compared to his native Colombia. His decision to move to the United States to live with his mother was due to the violence in his country. That, and there is a chance of a better future with hard work in the United States. “Teachers care here,” Serrano said of Crossroads, and school in the United States in general. “In Colombia, they didn’t care if you failed or not. It didn’t matter.” Since being enrolled at Crossroads, Serrano said he has found friends, his “homies” that he plans to keep in touch with after crossing the stage tonight at Lea Ledger Auditorium. Serrano enrolled at CCISD after he arrived from Columbia in November 2014, when he came to live with his mother. He said he lived here briefly when he was younger, but then went back to Colombia where he was raised by his father. This time, he’s here to stay. He decided he wanted to attend Crossroads so he could graduate sooner. Also, Serrano at the time did not know English very well. He determined to work very hard to complete the required graduation plan for all CCISD seniors. He continued to work on his credits via the Crossroads program, and he walked to the library every day to work on his studies and practice English. While working on his classes and his English, he has also worked to establish a better relationship with his mother, whom he has not lived with since he was young. He also continued to work on getting enrolled with Central Texas College and prepared for his SAT exams. The school said Monsalve passed his U.S. History end-of-course exam with a level three advanced score of 4513, and he also passed his TELPAS exams for language acquisition.“Juan has progressed with his language skills and has been an outstanding student for Crossroads High School.” Monsalve looks forward to continuing onward and upward—literally—after graduation, as he is enrolling at Central Texas College and will begin classes this summer, studying aviation. He aspires to become a piliot.