Gonzalez 1

Jorge Tejeda

Professor Encinias

CAS 113 B 

March 13, 2020

P2.3: Communities 
Since I always was in High School, I would always receive help at the library when trying to
apply for college. Almost every day after school I went. I spent time at the Canoga Park Library,
and I got to know Joana Lara. I have decided that she is a person from the Central American
Community because she likes and helps students that are coming from the Central American
countries. She is responsible for maintaining, supervising and advising, etc, students who are
trying to get an education. 

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself? My name is Joana Lara, I was born in Los Angeles,
California. My parents, on the other hand, were born in El Salvador and migrated to the
United States when they were in their mid 20’s. I have a big family. We are eight in total,
but two of my sisters were born and raised in El Salvador. My parents decided to come
here to give us the opportunity of getting an education to become successful people. I
graduated from California State University Northridge in 2016 with a Bachelors’ in
Liberal Studies. After three years of discovering my passion for counseling students, I
went back to school and I am currently doing my Master’s in School Counseling. 

2. Why are you interested in this organization/position? I’m interested in this position
because I like to help those students who are coming from the Central American
countries, especially Guatemala and El Salvador, they have suffered trauma in the
motherland and they have the right to come to the United States and have people like me
to help them. Also, being bilingual made me capable of working in this position since lots
of students do not speak English. 

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3. What are your weaknesses? 

 Being too much of a perfectionist

 Taking on too much responsibility

 Shifting from one project to another (multitasking)

 Being too sensitive

 Creative

4. What are your strengths?

 Enthusiasm

 Patience

 Respectfulness

 Dedication

 Honesty

5. Did you think that you would be successful for a long time? I'm personally committed
to being successful in this career. I believe it requires a combination of both educational
development and Hands-on work experience. 
6. What is the biggest struggle academically? The biggest struggles were when I started
to change my major, I was stressing out and thinking that I was not finding my place. I
was feeling lonely in college, I had no friends at all, until I realized that counseling was
helping others was my thing. 
7. What’s your daily routine? I go to college; I’m getting my master’s degree and I also
work in a library for a High School helping students in their needs and struggles
academically. 

8. Do you ever get tired? Yes, there are times where I feel that all I need is to sleep and
rest, but I remember how passionate I’m about my job and that people need my help.

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9. What are your hobbies? I like to spend time getting to know new places and get to
know new people, also, I enjoy playing video games and spending time with my family.

10. What’s the most important thing to you? The most important thing to me is my family,
especially my mom, because she is always supporting me in what I need, not just
economically because I have my income, but mentally she makes me strong 

11. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I see myself in five years as a school counselor
being able to help newcomer students, low-income students, and first-generation. I want
to be able to help them graduate as well as helping them have a plan to do something for
their future. I also want to help students from Central America learn that they have
opportunities to continue their education regardless of their status or language barrier. 

12. What’s your goal or dream? My goal dream is to have a job where I will be able to do
what I like, for example, being a counselor in High School has caught my attention. 

13. What was the hardest part of getting where you’re at today? I believe that the hardest
part of getting where I am is not knowing how to exactly. Because my parents migrated
from a different country, they did not know how to help me achieve higher education. I
was lost and did not know what I had to do to go to college. I had to figure out things on
my own and luckily was able to get help and learn along the way. I believe that this is
what has motivated me to help the Central American community. Many of them are not
aware of how to get where they want to be, I believe that with the knowledge I have
gained throughout the years, that would allow me to help them succeed. 

14. How do you manage your time? I usually try to make a checklist of the tasks I need to
complete throughout the day. I prioritize the most important ones and the ones due soon.
This allows me to keep the structure of my day. Sometimes things come up, so I am not
able to complete everything planned, but I don’t get mad at myself because I know I have
done a lot throughout the day. 

15. How do you deal with pressure? I try to calm myself and I like to play with my dog
because when I see him, I feel more relaxed, even though at home I’m doing something

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else I feel better. I also go to therapy to talk about what is stressing me out once a week. I
also like to take walks to alleviate any stress or pressure. 

16. What have you learned from your mistakes? One of the most important things that I
have learned from my mistakes is that time is valuable. I took three years off after I got
my bachelor’s and I feel that I could have done a lot more if I would have gone to school
straight out of my bachelor’s. 

17. What can you learn from your job? How to deal with people, especially with High
School students, also I have learned that this job can be stressful. This job is the reason
why I chose to do school counseling. I was able to learn that many students came from
Central America who were not getting their needs met. I learned that with my help I was
able to make them follow through with what they wanted to achieve. 

Central American Community