Alex Gutierrez struggled with math — and that kept her from going to her dream school. She just wrapped up her senior year at a Garland charter school where students learn English, Spanish and Chinese. She plans to stay home for a few years going to community college, but she has big plans for the future.
The senior banquet at International Leadership of Texas in Garland is the last big get-together before graduation. Alex Gutierrez and her friends sit around a table talking, laughing and eating fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. The speakers blast Snow Patrol and Andra Day.
Alex is trying to process what she’s feeling – normal emotions for a teenager who’s ending one phase of her life and starting another.
“It literally feels overwhelming, because it all feels like it’s happening so fast,” she says. “Even though when I started the school year, it seemed like graduation wasn’t coming fast enough.”
Read the about Alex — she's one of seven North Texas teens we've been following since 8th grade in our American Graduate series, .