Senior Nathalia Dominguez is quite a busy student. Dominguez juggles her rigorous coursework, dual enrollment classes,  duties to various clubs, all while having a part-time job.

What are you most proud of about yourself?  

“What I’m most proud of is being able to adjust quickly when I completely moved my life to a different country and came back from it.” Dominguez is referring to the time when she moved back to the United States after living in Colombia for most of her life. “When I was 5, my parents decided to move to Colombia, their home country. I was very young but I still remember it very clearly, my whole life was here in the states. That’s all that I’ve ever known,” said Dominguez, who lived happily with her cousins and family while in Columbia.  

How has moving from Colombia to the United States affected your life?

Not only was I leaving my happy life with all the people I loved behind, but I was going back to a place where I couldn’t really call my own anymore. I lived in my aunt’s room for a bit, had cultural shock going back to American schools. I felt alone, it was the loneliest years of my childhood. 

After coming back to the United States, Dominguez went to middle school and enrolled in the Criminal Justice program at Santaluces High. This year marks her 4th year in the Criminal Justice academy. “I love how closely knit we all are in the academy. It feels like a family,” said Dominguez. 

What do you want to be once out of high school?

“I want to be a lot of things. First and most importantly I want to be as happy as I can. I also want to be successful enough to take care of my parents and my extended family. Now, career-wise, I am hoping to attend a college like FIU or UCF and become a forensic scientist or at least anything relating to the criminology background.”

What clubs/activities do you participate in? 

I’m in the criminal justice academy and I am also apart of the National Honors Society, National English Honors Society, Science National Honors Society, and the Johnson Scholarship Program.