Promesa Boyle Heights’ Mendez High School Student Highlight

William Aviles’ 18

“The program helped me flip the switch in my life”

William is a first generation student. He was born and raised in Boyle Heights. He is the oldest child in his family.

He was first referred to our Academic Restorative Justice Circles at the beginning of his junior year because he was struggling with his attendance and was off-track to graduate. William worked with our Community School (CS) Coordinator to develop strategies to achieve his goals and access additional resources.

His goals were to increase his grades and overall Grade Point Average to be able to play soccer his senior year and graduate. To ensure William received a lot support during his senior year, our CS coordinator referred William to the Academic Case Management program with our partner IMPACTO.

As he begins to reflect on his journey, William says “the program helped me flip the switch in my life and helped me consider my options… These are great programs and should definitely continue to focus on the students struggling academically and personally”. William is now a senior and he is back on track to graduate. He is playing his first official soccer game of the year later this month and hopes to attend Los Angeles Trade Technical College in the fall.

Overall, William’s most favorite memory of the program is his relationships with our Community School Coordinator and IMPACTO’s Academic Case Manager. He values these two relationships because they helped him navigate through a difficult time in his life.

We cannot wait to see William walk the stage on June 2018!

Congratulations, William Aviles!