My name is Ashley Solis.
I'm a senior at Watsonville high school.
I'm currently applying for universities.
Me being first generation going into college,
it's a bit like, I don't know what to do, like, where do I go?
As I go on to choosing my own decisions for my own life,
in a way it's kind of difficult.
I get in at 10pm and then I go to work.
Other one where I'm usually at is on the frost freezy.
I had to take out the little pieces of fresas [strawberries],
they have a lot of ice on them.
Your hands get like, really cold.
And then I get out usually at 6am.
What I would do is like, I would come home and
then sleep for an hour and then like wake up, get dressed
and then go to school and try to finish, like,
all the homework they gave us.
Are you going to shower first? I want to shower first.
Yeah?
Me.
Are you gonna shower too?
Where we live, it's not an apartment.
It's just a room for like six of us.
They give you guys a lot of homework? Or not?
Am I pulling your hair?
I kind of had to miss the school because, like, my mom had to go to work
because if she didn't go to work there wasn't, like, no money for rent.
And, you know what, I had to stay with my sisters and take care of them.
That's the one we always use, right?
Good morning Watsonville high school.
And congratulations to our Wildcat softball team.
You know what, those softball girls have really demonstrated
if you work hard, you can get to your dreams.
Have a great weekend Wildcats, dream big, and work hard!
Let's hear some of those impressions out this way!
Most surprising, most interesting, most exciting and engaging
about what you just saw.
Don't all jump.
It's … I know, slow down everybody.
Try to put your hands in order.
That's agency, that's what agency looks like when I talk about
you guys having agency, that's what that is.
The things I want you to be thinking about for next week,
we haven't talked about college in a little while.
I want an update on scholarships you applied for,
what schools you're narrowing it down to, your decisions,
I want to know what schools you are going to,
I also want to be able to talk to each of people about financial plans,
in other words where have you gone with this, how have you progressed …
If we take a look at your attendance …
How's your attendance?
I had a 36 cuts.
They had told me I wasn't going to graduate.
I helped out my parents with money.
They didn't ask me to do it, but I mean, I knew they [what] they were going through.
Through the problems with money and everything, so I just had to help out.
So in a way I'm trying to be a help for them
but it is gonna be straying me away from my goals.
Once you get in, if you're hit with the smell, as I ride away, you know, hard work.
It's an everyday thing you have to do.
At the fields, they're really not going to, like, care about, like, if you're feeling bad.