Maria Sanchez began the ARC Summer Course in Tahoe with little confidence in her ability to complete what she started. Yet, as one of the most engaged and enthusiastic ARC alumni over the past two years, she has proven that pushing through is a benefit to herself and an example to others.
Joining ARC after an overwhelmingly stressful freshman year in high school, Maria faced her greatest fears—heights, public speaking, and trusting others—and discovered her ability as a leader.
The ARC Summer Course provides many opportunities to learn to be a leader: Leader of the Day helps the group stay on task, Aqua Bear keeps the group hydrated, House Mouse cleans up, Iron Chef prepares meals, the Great Eye ensures the group doesn’t get lost, and the Journalist points out the group’s accomplishments. A focus of ARC is to share the load with others, helping youth like Maria feel safer and more confident.
On her 16th birthday, as Leader of the Day, Maria said, “I felt lost and hopeless like a bird trapped in a cage unable to spread its wings.” The next day, benefitting from group feedback, she said, “I learned that I can take on leadership, even though I am really shy and don’t always speak up.”
Maria feels the ARC community is a good model. “They showed me they are here for me for support and good advice…I asked them for help when I was having a hard time. I wanted to leave the course because I felt that I couldn’t make it to the end. They said that they would do everything they can to help me finish the course, and I did.”
Maria is a young woman with a lot on her shoulders. She is now working six days a week in internships and service projects to help her family and community in any way possible. She has most recently been involved with the Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe and Jason’s Beachside Grille in King’s Beach, gaining valuable cooking, teaching, and customer service skills.
Over the past two years since completing the course, Maria has continued to show leadership among her peers on trips to Yosemite waterfalls, the rugged Coast of Big Sur and the summit of the Sierra Buttes.
Maria will graduate from North Tahoe High School this June. Her patience, self-love, compassion and sense of optimism have continued to grow, as have the possibilities for her wonderful future. She has recently turned her attention to a possible career in nursing.
Please continue reading Maria’s poem, My Life is Like a Fish Traveling Through Water.
My Life is Like a Fish Traveling Through Water
by Maria Sanchez
I am a fish traveling through water
It’s a long difficult journey
Through the river to get from the lake to the ocean
I swim with a school of fish
Even though they are there for me
I am the uncommon fish
I need to escape but
I feel terribly alone
As I travel I come across bumpy rapids
Managing school, friends, home, and expectations
The force of the current pressures me to do the right thing
To be responsible and independent
But I just want to be left alone to make my own choices
Rushing water
I am swimming against the current
Trying to leave my past, but it keeps pulling me back
I know that I need to push past my limits
By working hard to get to the ocean
I swim through torrents
Of worry, sadness, pressure, mistakes and my burdens
I worry about my sister
And try to help her be strong to forget by being a good role model
I cry because I can’t do anything to help
I’m trapped in one place
My past
All the violence, screaming and pain
Not able to stop my father from hurting my mother
Watching
Not able to do anything
But watching
I made the mistake of blaming myself
I couldn’t keep up with the current
I felt that I made my mother’s life worse
Trusting strangers
Made me believe that they would make everything better
But they took us away making my wounds deeper
I eased my wounds and eventually I came to calmer water
I tasted salt and I realized that I was near the ocean
I learned to carry all my problems since I was a child
By letting go of the load and going with the flow
Even if the currents were strong
I could swim through them
I left the lake to get to the ocean
Even though my memories still swirl around me
I realize I’m also swimming through waves
Of happiness, freedom, joy and dreams
I am overjoyed to be with my mother that’s constantly there for me
Supportive even though she’s fighting her own currents of disability
She doesn’t complain because it makes her stronger
My sister also won’t let her disability or age stop her from having a powerful life
Life is a long river rushing by
By fighting the current
It made me stronger
To be where I wanted to be
When I reach the ocean
I will have the satisfaction of achieving my goals
Of successfully finishing high school to gain my diploma,
Reaching the college I desire and become a strong adult like my mother
I will get to that clear beautiful ocean
I will feel strong and independent
I will have the strength to overcome all my obstacles
I will have a wonderful home and a beautiful life