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♪♪♪

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I feel like what helps me 
in this job is that I can relate

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to students because I have been 
where they are at, I'’ve gone

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through similar situations but 
I also can relate to the parents

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because my parents and I were 
really- we had a really strong

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relationship, and I know 
what their side of it is like.

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My name is Andrea Pérez, and I 
am the Family Community Liaison

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at Pomolita Middle School.

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So, here at Pomolita Middle 
School, we have about 750 to 800

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students and about half 
of those are Hispanic.

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A lot of those families have 
moved here from Mexico

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they don't know English, 
and some of them don't even know

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how to read or write, 
so I help a lot with that too.

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I connect with them and give 
them whatever help I can.

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I was born here but I lived in 
Mexico for a few years,

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so I came back when I was in 
second grade and it was really

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difficult for me because back 
then, there weren't many Spanish

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speaking people on the school 
staff. I always had to go with

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my parents and be the translator 
because they don't speak

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English. When I heard about this 
job, I thought it would be-

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I thought it was a great job to 
begin with because there's

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someone at the school who can 
help parents like mine to

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translate and to help them with 
filling out paperwork, fill out

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anything, and they don't have to 
worry about those kinds of

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things. So, we're a really 
good resource for them.

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They can call us with any 
question, and we can find out

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for them and help them 
in the best way that we can.

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It makes me feel good that I can 
be that person for these

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families that they can go to for 
any question that they have.

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If they need to know anything 
about our school or about the

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community, they can come and ask 
me. If I don't know the answer,

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I'll find out and get back to 
them, but I think it's really

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important to have someone 
that anybody can go to.

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I have a parent on the phone 
who I'’ve been talking to for a

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little while, and she really 
wants to talk to you about some

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issues she'’s having with her 
student. When would be a good

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time for you guys to meet?

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I think the key to helping 
parents relax and trust us is to

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just listen to them. 
Make sure that their concerns

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are heard and that they know 
that we're doing something about

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it. Just listening to them and 
making sure that they understand

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that we care, helps a lot. 
It puts their mind at ease,

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I think, because they know that 
there's someone that they can

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automatically go to. I enjoy 
helping them connect with who

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they need to connect to. 
I think that without this

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position at our schools, 
it would be more difficult for

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parents to connect and I really, 
really like talking to them and

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just getting their story and 
being able to help them.

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When I go home at the end 
of the day, I just feel really

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accomplished for being there for 
people, being there for parents,

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whether they're speaking English 
or Spanish. But most especially

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the Spanish-speaking families 
because I was there for them,

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and I did the best I could to 
help them, and it makes

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me feel really good. And I think 
back to when I was younger,

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and we had the same issues 
so, I just told my mom, like,

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I just feel really, really 
lucky to be here and to help

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these parents with all 
of these things.