Volunteered loved ones of students featured in this year's edition, showcasing the flags of Latino America. Front cover of the 2026 Graduation Special Edition. (Emelyn Gomez)

Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷 Headshot of Benjamin Gutierrez. (Emelyn Gomez) Benjamin Gutierrez grew up going to the movies with his dad. “It was our weekend plan, you know. When I was a kid, we didn't have much to do, and I grew up in the prime age of franchise films, like Marvel (and) DC,” Gutierrez said. He said those weekend trips made him fascinated with the visual aspect of movies. “[They] tell a story in a universal way. Everyone can understand images, it doesn't ma

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Mitzly Barrios. (Emelyn Gomez) Una buena maestra alegra la clase con lecciones memorables. Mitzly Barrios Sanchez espera hacer exactamente eso con sus futuros estudiantes. Having lived many unique experiences, she hopes these stories show the importance of embracing culture. Barrios, the middle of six siblings, grew up constantly moving around the U.S. alongside her single mother. When circumstances got hard, she moved to Mexico with

Written by: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Owen Kramer. (Emelyn Gomez) Owen Kramer has had many conversations that have shaped his view on life. One evening with his grandfather, he discussed his internal thoughts regarding his background. As a half-Cuban, half-Western European, he always questioned where he stood culturally. “How do I interact with the world?” he asked. “I don't want to say that I have had the same experience as other people, because I haven't… but I do also

Written by: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Ariana Tsegai. (Emelyn Gomez) In a family of trailblazers, Ariana Tsegai was destined to accomplish her dreams. After her parents and two older siblings immigrated to the U.S. from Eritrea with no money or idea of what to do next, she knew she had big shoes to fill. Coming from a low-income household, Tsegai struggled to have the academic and financial support that her classmates had. As an outlook, she would volunteer in political cam

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Jury Medrano. (Emelyn Gomez) After many of her high school friends decided not to pursue higher education, Jury Medrano naturally wanted to follow in their footsteps. Creendo que no era capaz, intentó ser estudiante en Montgomery College durante unos semestres. “I didn’t even know I was gonna pursue higher education… Not seeing Latinos like myself, especially that came from underserved backgrounds, that came from a similar background,

Written by: Ashley Neyra 🇵🇪 Headshot of Emily Araniva. (Emelyn Gomez) Emily Araniva starts her day in her childhood home in Prince George’s County. She gets ready, gathers her things, and commutes to the University of Maryland. While balancing classes and working at Vigilante Coffee Company, she found a space where she could grow as a concert photographer at WMUC, UMD’s student-run radio station. Araniva is a first-generation Salvadoran student and the middle child of thre

Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷 Headshot of Daisy Navarro. (Emelyn Gomez) Daisy Navarro has known that she wanted to be a doctor for a long time, but as the first in her family to attend college, she struggled to know how to get there. “I had some sense of what I could do, but it was just difficult knowing what resources are out there as first-gen,” Navarro said. Navarro was accepted to several of the 31 colleges that she applied to in high school but didn’t have the money t

Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷 Headshot of Dennis Gomez. (Emelyn Gomez) Dennis Gomez contemplated changing his mechanical engineering major about three times a semester. “Even though it drives me crazy, staying up nights doing work or studying, looking at all those equations, I'm glad I stuck with it,” Gomez said. Since he was a kid, Gomez was fascinated by how things worked, and math clicked in a way that words never could. “When I finally got it, that light bulb thing, th

Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷 Headshot of Laura Charleston. (Emelyn Gomez) For Laura Charleston, resilience is about maintaining her identity through her obstacles. As a journalist, the biggest way she’s seen her resilience tested is by the growing distrust in traditional media. “It can be very doubting of the industry, of hearing what everyone's saying and how they feel,” Charleston said, “...and just wanting to be the difference so people can trust you.” Despite the chal

Escrito por: Alexa Figueroa 🇸🇻 Headshot of Dulce Ortiz. (Emelyn Gomez) 65 miles from College Park is Harpers Ferry, a historic district full of rivers and hiking trails. It’s where Dulce Ortiz grew up y es uno de los primeros lugares que consideró su hogar. Ortiz grew up in a predominantly-white town in West Virginia and attended private catholic schools, one being in Frederick, Md., to find a better education. “In West Virginia, it's more rural and the people are a little

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Emely Miranda-Aguilar. (Emelyn Gomez) Emely Miranda-Aguilar siempre ha tenido un ojo para historias únicas, siendo responsable de la cobertura del ‘Pogo Stick Guy’ de la Universidad de Maryland, Clarke Bedford de Hyattsville, una nueva iniciativa para prevenir la violencia escolar en Frederick County, y muchas más. With dreams of becoming a journalist for topics in art and culture, it took lots of courage to get to where she is today

Written by: Emely Gonzalez 🇸🇻 Headshot of Rashel Moscoso-Morales. (Emelyn Gomez) As graduation approaches, Rashel Moscoso-Morales, a student earning a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in behavioral and community health, reflects on just how far she has come. At the end of her undergrad year, Moscoso-Morales was unsure on what was next for her. In between the decision of tackling the workforce or continuing her education she came into a realization of th

Written by: Emely Gonzalez 🇸🇻 Headshot of Estephany Sanchez. (Emelyn Gomez) “Mija, lo hiciste” are the words she hopes to hear from her parents upon graduation. Estephany Sanchez, a double major in criminology and criminal justice and information science, keeps these words close to her as graduation approaches. As a first-generation student, Sanchez has faced many challenges and unsolved questions about what comes next. “My parents didn't go to college. My sisters didn't go

Written by: Emely Gonzalez 🇸🇻 Headshot of Sophia da Silva. (Emelyn Gomez) As people say, four years of college fly by quickly, often leading to the new reality of adulthood. Sophia da Silva wants to take this new chapter as a window of opportunity. “I’m really excited to just go out and experience the world,” she said. From writing news stories and scripts for publication, she not only discovered her passions but also important lessons on how to navigate the world. “The

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Manuel Alejandro Custodio. (Emelyn Gomez) Creciendo en una casa con otros 16 familiares, Manuel Alejandro Custodio tuvo que buscar nuevas maneras de enfrentar sus desafíos. “My mom finished middle school. My dad, I'm not even sure if my dad finished high school, but you know, the expectation was always college. And I wasn't sure I was gonna get there, but I knew I had to be there,” he said. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfize

Written by: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Isabel Polanco. (Emelyn Gomez) As Isabel Polanco practiced for her lifelong dream of completing a marathon before 22, she reflected on how much of her college journey was a race of its own. Beginning the race wasn't easy. Coming from a low-income background, her parents valued and encouraged her to pursue a higher education, just like her mom did in the Philippines. Though the mindset was instilled in her, the financial means to attain

Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷 Headshot of Alexa Rosales. (Emelyn Gomez) When Alexa Rosales thinks of strength, she thinks of her mother. “She came here with absolutely nothing,” Rosales said. Her mother, alongside her siblings, immigrated from Peru at 16 years old and had Rosales when she was 24. Without her parents, she was required to figure everything out on her own. “She's gone through so much, and she's still standing,” Rosales said. It’s an example of resilience tha

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Headshot of Kendra Jimenez. (Emelyn Gomez) Kendra Jimenez knew she wanted to make a change in the Latino community, but “the how” was the hard part. Mientras vivía en el condado de Montgomery, notó que su ambiente era culturalmente diverso, pero no estaba académicamente avanzado. "My dad has always emphasized the importance and privilege it is to go to school,” said Jimenez. “Thankfully, I kept that in mind and have always tried pushing myself f

Escrito por: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹 Emily Nava uses she/they pronouns interchangeably, and they will be referred to as both throughout the profile. Headshot of Emily Nava. (Emelyn Gomez) Growing up, Emily Nava wasn't sure where she fit in. Being the middle child in their family, she often rebelled in search of herself. Le costaba conectar su identidad mexicana con la personalidad que enseñaba en la escuela, especialmente cuando su vida en casa estaba tan llena de varias tradiciones