My name is Daeli Mendoza. I am a lab tech in our Springville Family Medicine office. Outside of work, I am involved in Latinos in Action, a community organization dedicated to bridging Latino students’ graduation and opportunity gap, working from within the educational system to create positive change.
One of the many ways we serve in our community is through tutoring; we go to elementary schools and help kids with their homework, reading, and projects. Another aspect of tutoring isn’t in our “job description” but is a more significant part of what we do – it is about being someone for these kids to whom they can look up.
These schools are diverse, and we have to show the students that anything is possible no matter their background or skin color. It is about being someone these children can confide in about things that have little to do with homework or school, but we are there to listen to them. It is about being their friend when they otherwise don’t have any. Although we do this for an hour a day, once a week, which is nothing for most people, it is everything for these kids. Their eyes light up every time they see us walk through the doors, and that is something I will never forget, and I’m hoping that neither will they.
