3 Cheers: Alexa Martir-Rodriguez Overcomes Hurricane, Receives High School Diploma
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Puerto Rican-native Alexa Martir-Rodriguez personified perseverance long before she received her high school diploma at Vineland High School.
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Hurricane Maria made graduating from her high school in Puerto Rico this year impossible.
"I wanted to graduate high school and it was hard because I really wanted to achieve that and I talk to my mom and I said 'mom, I can do this, I cannot stay here.'"
So in January, she moved in with her aunt in Vineland and became a student at Vineland High School.
She faced the typical challenges associated with the senior year of high school plus some.
"It was strangers and I had to talk English," Martir-Rodriguez said. "English is not my best. I do my best to talk but Spanish is my first language, so I was nervous about this."
But she pushed on, and it paid off.
The question is not if something difficult will happen in life, it's when.
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Faced with that moment, Martir-Rodriguez had a choice, accept the unacceptable or make a big leap in order to control her future.
She landed, two feet on the ground, with a diploma in hand.
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For being a student of hard work and determination, Alexa Martir-Rodriguez gets three cheers.
Martir-Rodriguez says she plans to head to college next.