It’s been a long road and took an airplane to finally get here, but I made it
By Ashliegh Ramirez
Greetings from the East Coast! I am
thankful I reached the fork in the first
road of my journey through life. I am
now on the second road, the pursuit of
my higher education.
I hope the youth I have spent time
with (the girls in Daughters of Tradition,
STYLE Council members, kids from
Young Life and WyldLife, Youth Preven-
tion activities group, girls from Royalty
court, younger children of the community
and all the other youth I met through pow-
wow and traditional dancing) are all doing
well and have started the school year on
a positive step.
I pray you are pursuing your dreams.
I wanted to share the idea with the youth
who are not sure what they want or where
they want to go in life that a dream can
come true if they start working toward
it now.
I started to contemplate what I wanted
my life to be when I was in the eighth
grade. A 10-day field trip the following
summer to the East Coast provoked this.
While on that trip to New York, Phila-
delphia, Boston and Washington, D.C., I
absolutely fell in love with Boston. This
same year, I started playing softball and
the Boston Red Sox easily became my
favorite baseball team. Two friends and I
daydreamed that one day we would go to
college in Boston.
I was a freshman, just starting my
high school career. I still had my day-
dream of going to school in Boston. I told
my mom and she told me to look online
at the schools I was interested in to see
what they were looking for in students.
Not only would I have to compete to
get into the private universities that inter-
ested me, I would be competing against
kids who went to prep schools specifically
for university entrance. My grades and
SAT scores would be important, but my
résumé of extracurricular activities would
play a large part in being selected.
After the holidays my freshman year,
I thought I better step up my game plan.
I joined the leadership class and worked
hard to get the highest grades I could. I
started working part time at JC Market in
Newport when I was a sophomore. I took
two math classes my sophomore year just
so I could get my math requirements out
of the way.
Part way through my sophomore year,
I contemplated pursuing the International
Baccalaureate (IB) diploma program at
Newport High School. In short, you start
this diploma program as a junior and it
includes college-level courses spread
out over two years. If you don’t get the
diploma but you obtain the certificate for
a class, some universities will give col-
lege credit.
There are fees to take the tests, so I
asked my mom if she thought I should try
for the IB diploma. I knew I would need
her support to help me keep up the course
load. Missing school for Royalty events
would not be easy; it would mean more
homework and trusting a classmate to
fill me in on anything I missed. If I could
continue my extracurricular activities
and get good grades in my current course
work, it would be a good sign that I’d be
successful in the IB program.
I was able to maintain all that work.
The two years of the IB program were
stressful, exhausting and at times I
thought not worth it. I had a serious medi-
cal problem in both my junior and senior
years that took me out of school each time
for a week. This caused me to miss junior
year softball conditioning and senior year
preseason softball games.
In order to maintain my GPA, I chose
to cut back to four IB classes my senior
year. I adjusted my course schedule and
found time to take a fun course. My goal
of an IB diploma was shorted; however, I
realized I wanted to study medicine.
I narrowed down my pick of universi-
ties, taking into consideration class size,
the size of the campus, the courses avail-
able and the proximity to Boston. After
four years, I truly wanted to be in that
area for my higher education.
I applied to only three universities
for admission. After I hadn’t received any
news for admission, I started to panic. I
did not even apply to any local universities
in Oregon as a safety net.
I finally got my first letter. I was
accepted to the school but the program of
study I wanted was full. It was my third-
choice school and if I went there I would
need to choose another program.
The next letter came a few days later;
it was late on a Sunday night and I was
barely awake. As I opened the letter, I was
so nervous.
It was just a small regular-size enve-
lope from my second-choice school (I had
always heard college acceptance letters
were big envelopes full of paper). Just
a single page inside; I braced myself for
bad news.
I skimmed through the letter expect-
ing to cry, but then realized I had been
accepted to Lesley University and had
received a scholarship for four years,
which would cover 26 percent of my
tuition for my first year. It was awarded for
my grades and extracurricular activities.
A few days later, I got an e-mail from
the Lesley University softball coach, who
wanted to know if I was interested in
playing softball in college. Of course I
was and Lesley University immediately
became my No. 1 choice.
The following months of high school
flew by. I completed my IB classes, played
softball while recovering from surgery
and spent time with friends as much as
possible since I knew we all would be
going separate ways soon.
Graduation came quickly in mid-
June, then I was out in the middle of
Oregon’s high desert for a month-long
sabbatical to volunteer at the Young Life
camp. I was home briefly with my family
and friends, then spent one more week
away at the WyldLife camp as a counselor.
A few more weeks went by and it was time
to fly to Boston on Aug. 31.
When I landed in Boston and pulled
up in front of Lesley University on Sept.1,
I was looking at my dream realized. I had
made it! I was in Cambridge, Mass.
During the next few days, I traveled
around the area with my mom. I saw my
original first choice – Boston University –
and was glad I didn’t choose to go there. It
is enormous, spread out over several miles
with hundreds of people everywhere.
Courtesy photo
Ashleigh Ramirez (left) and a new friend, Sarah Hurley, attend College Day at
Fenway Park in Boston, Mass.
I became familiar with the Cambridge
area, learned about the bus system (kind
of scary for a girl who didn’t even ride
the school bus much, let alone public
transportation) and met some nice people.
I went to my first softball meeting before
school even started and I remembered
why I had come across the United States.
I still miss my family and friends, but
this is the life I have wanted for the last
five years. It is still surreal for me as I
walk across the Harvard campus, explore
Harvard Square, go to my classes and end
my week with softball practice.
Those IB classes were worth all of the
work. I now have the discipline needed to
succeed in balancing school, sports and
life in general. I challenged myself and
was able to prove to myself I could do it.
I have met some wonderful girls here
who don’t replace my friends at home but
have expanded my group of friends. I still
can text and call home to my friends and
family, and with technology I can even
see what they are up to with Facebook
and video chat with Skype and FaceTime.
Being this far from home is hard, but I
have found it is possible. I know I am
blessed and all the things that have hap-
pened in my life have been for a purpose.
If I can travel more than 3,200 miles
from the Siletz Reservation to the other
side of the country where the sun rises
over the Atlantic Ocean to reach my goal,
other youth need to know they can reach
their goals too, no matter how far away
they seem.
Realize that you can have your
dream! It takes deliberate planning and
a lot of hard work, tears, sweat, fear and
anxiety – but it is all worth it when you
are living it!
I would like for anyone reading this
to please share this article with your chil-
dren, grandchildren or any other youth
you know.
Youth who would like to ask me about
leadership, the Siletz Tribal Youth Lead-
ership & Education (STYLE) Council,
college preparation and the IB diploma
program can e-mail me at ashliegh.
victoria@gmail.com. I am in college
with plenty of homework, so I will try to
answer e-mails as fast as I can.
If you are interested in continuing
the work of the STYLE Council or if you
have a student who is considering the IB
diploma program, you can contact my
mom, Angela Ramirez, at angeladawn-
ramirez@gmail.com.
CeDARR
Community efforts Demonstrating the Ability to Rebuild and Restore
Mission Statement: We will utilize resources to prevent the use of alcohol
and other drugs, delinquency and violence; we will seek to reduce the barriers
to treatment and support those who choose abstinance.
Nov. 7
5:30 p.m.
Siletz Public Library
255 Se Gaither, Siletz
November 2012
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