Yamelin Jaquez is an 18-year-old senior at the Community Academy of Philadelphia. Yamelin was born in the Dominican Republic, but moved to the United States with her mother and father when she was 4 years old. She is in the DACA program, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals; it protects her from being deported since she entered in the program when she was 15 years old.

Yamelin is a student athlete at her high school and is in multiple clubs, showing how well-rounded she is. She is her school’s basketball team captain, the president of the National Honor Society and a member of her school’s science and technology club, in addition to being an intern for Motivos Magazine here in Philadelphia.

By the same token, Yamelin sees education as an escape, She says that “with education you can reach places,” which helps to show how driven she is, from her early decision admission to attend Lehigh University to taking early college courses. At her community college, she took sociology last fall and is now taking introduction to business. She plans to study international relations with the aspiration of one day working for the United Nations and showing her selfless and caring qualities in helping others around the world.

She is a unique, self-assured multitasker who is very social. She seeks to learn more about journalism during the Acel Moore High School Journalism Workshop with people who are her age striving for success.