If you would have asked Nazmin a year ago if she was looking forward to graduating, she might have told you it wasn’t happening.
You see, just one year ago, Nazmin was struggling to make ends meet in school. She simply didn’t feel the drive to press into her studies and finish well, but she soon discovered that bad grades ultimately meant she needed more help. Nazmin hadn’t yet discovered the reward of trying her best, no matter the outcome.
But hope is rewriting the route of Nazmin’s story.
“As she got closer to her eighteenth birthday, we offered her a space in our Hope Program,” explained Gennie, Nazmin’s house mom through Back2Back. “She didn’t want to be a part at first; she wanted to have her own place with her mom, but she finally saw the potential within herself we had always known was there.”
Like many of the children Back2Back serves, Nazmin comes from a hard place and is learning to grow in spite of the trauma she has experienced. The support she is given by her house parents, her mom, and teachers helps making decisions for her future less difficult. She is beginning to see her dreams for her future matter. She is coming to realize they are significant in the bigger story. Once she decided to be a part of the Mazatlán Hope Program, she became more motivated to work hard towards her future success.
Nazmin will be pursuing a degree in education. Gennie feels this is a natural avenue for her to pursue, one she will thrive within.
“She is always helping,” says Gennie. “Nazmin is a natural leader who feels drawn to teaching the young children we serve. She is an incredibly funny girl and she uses this so well to connect with the younger children.” With her joyful, brown eyes and wide, welcoming smile, she makes it easy for the younger children to draw near to her, to listen obediently to her, and to trust her with the tasks at hand.
Nazmin, with her outgoing spirit and love for children feels a deep desire to give back to the home and people who helped her flourish.
She is growing into a young woman who is affirmed in her dreams because she is flanked by others loving and guiding, cheering and fighting alongside her. Nazmin is a girl who isn’t simply talking about serving and giving back – she is active in the pursuit of both.
Nazmin is a girl unwilling to settle for a story of passive existence; she intends to break the mold and forge a trail worth following.