Jaelin Romero Soto

By: Alexa Figueroa 🇸🇻

Jaelin Romero Soto posing in a studio in Hyattsville, MD on Aug. 1, 2022 (Courtesy of Jaelin Romero Soto)

Who doesn’t love eating panes con pollo y tamales durante la época de navidad.

Jaelin Romero Soto remembers la reventada de pólvoras that took place in El Salvador during Christmas.

The education major at Prince Georges Community College was born and raised in San Miguel El Salvador and came to the U.S. when she was 12 years old.

Shifting from one educational system to the next was difficult for her. The language barrier was one of her most difficult struggles since coming to this country.

The students in the school she attended who spoke English would make fun of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students such as herself.

Ella quería hacer una diferencia y quería representar a los estudiantes que no hablan bien el inglés. She decided to run for school president in middle and class president in high school and while people did not believe that she could win, she proved everyone wrong.

Ella extraña la libertad que hay en El Salvador. Dice que en El Salvador se vive para disfrutar el tiempo con la familia, no para el trabajo lo cual no se puede hacer en los Estados Unidos, we live to work.

Her culture and upbringing have motivated her to give back to the community and leave a legacy for students that share her story.

“Mi cultura, mis creencias y forma de ser, donde crecí… es lo que me enseñó a quién ser yo.”