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Tiffany Gonzalez Ramirez is an Apalachee senior who has come a long way since she started high school. Despite falling a little off track early in her high school career, Tiffany has excelled and earned all A’s in her classes for the past two years. She is a remarkable student with a very bright future ahead of her. Her success is a testament to her resilience and dedication to improving herself.
Tiffany grew up in Gwinnett County and started high school at Berkmar. She transferred to Apalachee in her sophomore year, and the transition to a new school was tough for her. Tiffany shared, “It was hard for me because I didn’t know anybody from here. I was leaving all the people I grew up with behind. You might think ‘oh, it can’t be that hard,’ but it was hard for me. I left the place I grew up, the place where my dad and my brother live, the place where I lived for 16 years, to a place where I didn’t know anybody. Living here is a different environment than what I was used to, so it made it hard for me to accept it. Not being able to accept it made it hard for me to show up to school every day, causing me to fall behind.” Due to this, Tiffany started missing school, which had a negative impact on her grades. She fell behind on her path to graduation and started to lose hope.
Fortunately, Tiffany started coming to school and was able to find success in her classes. She attributes this turnaround to a couple of people who helped her commit to graduation. She said that her family encouraged her to keep going. Tiffany shared, “My dad was always telling me ‘ponte las pilas, mama,’ basically meaning to focus and work hard. My mom would always remind me that I’m at the finish line, so why give up now? My grandma was another person who helped me because, as I was struggling, she would sit down and tell me not to give up. With my family being immigrants, they didn’t have the same opportunities that I have, so I knew if I wasn’t going to do it for myself, at least I could do it for them.”
Tiffany also shared that Mr. Dean, the Graduation Specialist, encouraged her to start coming to school consistently to get back on track for graduation. She said, “He encouraged me to show up. Slowly, he helped me get all caught up, and that’s why every time someone mentions him, I talk highly of him and how I wouldn’t be graduating if it wasn’t for him helping me.”
Tiffany has shown so much resilience as a student. When she graduates, she wants to either become a realtor or open her own bakery. Whichever path she chooses, Tiffany will find success. Apalachee is so proud of the work she has done to be on track to graduate in May!