Alumni
In Their Own Words
Zoila Guadelupe Fuentes immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 1990. She and her husband had four sons. In 1997 her husband was tragically killed in an automobile accident while visiting relatives in El Salvador, leaving her to raise her children alone. The youngest three -- Victor, Osmell and Rodrigo-- came to Identity through our after-school programs at Forest Oak Middle School and Gaithersburg High School.
Edward Castellon completed ’s after-school program when he was a sophomore at Albert Einstein High School in Silver Spring and has since served as a HIV prevention Outreach Peer Educator.
"I come from a terrible place in Honduras. Drugs and guns were around me from the age of five or six. I have always expected that those same things were going to be a part of my life here. Identity gave me the opportunity to have a very different future."
Carmen Maria Centeno was only 14 when she came to the U.S. with her mother and younger sister. They had fled El Salvador fearing political persecution because of her mother’s work with the Universidad Centro Americana (UCA). As senior at Northwood High School in Silver Spring, she became involved with Identity.
"I want to help other Latino youth not feel afraid to speak out and to become more active in making a difference in our community. We need to help each other to be better prepared academically and to promote our Hispanic cultures with pride and not shame. Identity meant everything to me…It was only program for Latinos in my school and I immediately felt comfortable there. "
Alvaro Ortiz, completed Identity’s after-school program at Gaithersburg High School and has remained involved with the organization since then.
"Identity is not just an after-school program where you go and leave, it’s more like family where you can talk about your problems and feelings. Identity showed me that they cared, gave me encouragement and said ‘yes’, you can do it."