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Meet Melissa Perez

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    My name is Melissa Perez.
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    I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City,
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    but my parents are Mexican.
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    Two years ago, graduating high school
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    was not even in my plans.
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    I was doing horribly in school.
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    Going to a school that has metal detectors is stressful.
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    You have to stand in line 25 minutes to an hour.
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    I would only go in third period
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    and come out fourth.
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    I went third period
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    because I knew they didn't take attendance first and second.
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    So, basically, if you were going third period,
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    they would mark you present for the whole day.
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    I just wasn't interested in school.
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    Then, when I was 17,
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    I gave birth to my daughter, Madeline.
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    Getting pregnant changed my approach tremendously.
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    I thought, "I'm pregnant, I don't have a diploma.
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    So what I am I going to be working the rest of my life?
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    $7.25 an hour?
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    No! I have to graduate and go to college."
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    Being a mom, still going to high school is, ummm,
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    overwhelming, I would say, at the beginning,
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    but I had this math teacher who encouraged me
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    to go on with school.
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    She always said that she saw something in me.
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    She was like, "I know there's something inside you there
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    that wants to fight for it."
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    She always pushes me,
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    she always gives me the hard questions
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    because she knows that my favorite subject is math.
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    She's always like, "Melissa, figure this out.
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    Melissa, figure that out."
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    And I'm like, "Okay, okay."
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    I like that about her
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    because she always tends to push me.
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    Thelma is the first teacher
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    that has treated me,
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    you know,
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    I guess, special.
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    After I had my baby, I got my head into the game
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    and I passed my classes.
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    Being a mom at a young age
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    either makes you or breaks you,
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    but, in my case, it made me.
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    It made me have a total different visual for my future.
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    I am the first person in my family
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    to graduate from high school.
Title:
Meet Melissa Perez
Description:

This is one of five student perspectives featured in the PBS special "TED Talks Education" (#TEDTalksed.) Learn more here: https://www.ted.com/promos/TEDTalksEducation

Special thanks to our partners in this endeavor: WNET, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TED-Ed
Duration:
02:34
Jessica Ruby approved English subtitles for Meet Melissa Perez
Jessica Ruby accepted English subtitles for Meet Melissa Perez
Jessica Ruby edited English subtitles for Meet Melissa Perez
Andrea McDonough added a translation

English subtitles

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