Mariela Barrales and Osvaldo Cabrales overcome their great obstacles to help change the narrative of their community
LOS ANGELES – Little by little the new generations are changing the narrative of the East Los Angeles, which is usually known for its Mexican culture, its iconic murals and the music of traditional mariachi music, but also for its high level of poverty, crime and immigrant community.
Mariela Barrales, 18 years old, and Osvaldo Cabrales, 17, are part of this change.
Starting in the fall of 2020 and with all educational expenses paid, James A. Garfield High School Students Will Attend Yale —A university in the state of Connecticut considered one of the three best in the country.
Proud daughter of street vendors
Mariela is the second of six children. Her parents are Mexican immigrants who for over 20 years they have worked as street vendors.
She remembers that when she was little accompanied his parents to sell corn and raspados through the streets to earn a living for the day.
The experience of watching them push those heavy carts with the ice boxes and the hot pot of corn motivated Mariela to get a better education to be able to help them in a different way.
"They don't speak English and sometimes clients don't treat them well," said the young woman. "So they pushed me to be a better student."
From a very young age, Mariela had a fascination with books. He enjoyed reading and constantly asked questions of his teachers.
Her father Felipe Barrales, 48, said that when his daughter was in primary school the teacher called them to give them unexpected news.
"He told us that she was very applied and wanted to advance it for a year but we didn't want to because we thought it was going to be late ”.
Little did the parents imagine that their daughter would put all her effort to make herself stand out in her studies.
Now Mariela will graduate in June as the best valedictorian student of the class of 2020 at Garfield.
After being accepted by 10 prestigious universities, the teenager decided to Yale, where will study political science and Spanish to eventually attend law school.
Honoring the memory of his brother
Osvaldo has a lot of passion for numbers. He said that from a very young age he found it very easy to finish his math homework. In elementary school he took an exam where he had a perfect grade, which impressed his parents.
The young man, older than three brothers, said that his parents always instilled in him the goal of going to college And her motivation increased when she was in middle school and she found out that a cousin had been accepted into college.
"She was the first in the family (to go to university) and during that time she got pregnant but she was still able to finish school," Osvaldo said, motivated that if she could do it, he would also attend university.
Once in high school, he had to overcome various obstacles. Among them was the illness that his father suffered for two years. While he was receiving treatment to recover, Osvaldo was in 11th grade and had to take charge of his home. As the oldest, he was the role model for his brothers and the strength for his mother.
When the situation improved, the family decided to take a trip to spend Christmas in Mexico in 2019. On the road, the vehicle they were in overturned and their younger brother, Margarito Cabrales, died., who was 15 years old.
"During the first months I was in a dark place," Osvaldo said, assuring that he thinks of his brother on a daily basis. "I did all my work and continued my responsibilities, but things were not and probably never will be the same."
Because his brother was also an outstanding student, Osvaldo dedicates all his successes to him. He will graduate as Garfield's second best “salutatorian” student and he decided on Yale among a group of seven universities that welcomed him.
The young man has played football during high school and he accepts that this sport has also taught him discipline and motivation to keep going.
His coach, Lorenzo Hernández, said that it is not very common to see a student excel in sports at the same time as in mathematics.
"They are both very demanding and it takes a lot of work for them to handle it," he said. "We always teach them that they must move forward in every situation because there will always be obstacles in life and they must learn to overcome them."
Support outside the home
Mariela and Osvaldo are friends from high school and have taken several classes together. They both participated in a program called “College Match,” where they received help for the SAT high school exit exam and the program led them to visit the university. Yale.
Osvaldo said that when they arrived he was impressed to see the cultural center "La Casa" where he literally felt at home.
Both young they accept that their parents will miss them but they know it is for the benefit of the whole family.
The two will have their studies paid for through various scholarships they won, including the Gates Millennium scholarship, one of the most prestigious in the nation for minority students, and Jack Kent Cooke Schoolarship, awarded to students who will attend one of the four most illustrious schools in the country.
Garfield's Pride
Garfield High School President Andrés Favela said he is proud of the students and the high school has demonstrated with facts that there are exemplary students in East Los Angeles.
He added that in the 2020 class about 600 students will graduate, which is 97% of the total. Of these, 90% have shown interest in attending four or two year colleges and At least five students have been accepted into one of the eight most highly-priced universities in the US, known as "Ivy League".
"We always try to do our best to remove negative stereotypes from our school," Favela said, claiming that Osvaldo and Mariela are examples of what Garfield can offer the world.
