“I wanted to be an inspiration”: Juandiego Bueno Soto

Bueno Soto gives a speech about his experiences as an immigrant (Courtesy of MCHS Student Voice Assembly)

By Aiden Damasco, Staff Writer

Moving away from your home is always hard, but moving to another continent 3000 miles away with a completely different way of life is significantly harder.

Juandiego Bueno Soto is a senior at Maria Carrillo High School who hails from Huancayo, Peru. Huancayo is the fifth most populous city in Peru and the most influential city in the center of Peru, as well as the most important in the Andes Mountains. Due to the relative isolation of the city, it relies heavily on agriculture and is vastly different from the rest of the country, let alone the United States.

Bueno Soto describes the beginning of his journey from his home country of Peru to the United States as a surprise: “I remember we were making preparations to spend Christmas with the family,” Bueno Soto recalled. “The party, the gifts, and the family dinner were all I could think about. However, one day my father came home from work and simply told us to pack our bags.”

When asked what the reason for such a move was, Bueno Soto stated “my parents wanted to offer a better life for my brother and me...we decided to start over, but together as a family.” He arrived in the country on 17 December, 2022. “From the moment I arrived, my family was my driving force, my inspiration, and what kept me strong and resilient.”

After three years, Bueno Soto describes his experience in the United States as “extravagant.” However, he hasn’t always felt this way. “[Learning English] was challenging…and also the fact that we didn't have anything back then,” he recalled. “The first few years were challenging, but I had my family by my side, and I will always be grateful for that.”

Bueno Soto started at MCHS halfway through the 2022-2023 school year. From the start, he immediately noticed the differences. “In Peru, public schools are nothing like Carrillo…in the mornings before classes started, there was a formation and the national anthem was sung throughout the school. Also, the bus wasn't free…I had to pay for the bus fare and also for my food, so I had to save up for my round-trip ticket and for lunch so I wouldn't starve.”

A few differences also made it difficult for Bueno Soto to adjust. His first challenge was learning English, which, as a Germanic language, is quite different from Spanish, a Romance language, and is difficult for Spanish speakers to learn. “I had to practice first in front of the mirror and by listening to movies in English, trying to memorize the sounds and the accent,” Bueno Soto said.

But during the time that Bueno Soto was learning English, making friends and meaningful connections was difficult. “At first, my friends were just my group from my ELD (English Language Development) class…for those who [were] learning English,” and although Bueno Soto and the others felt isolated from the world around them, they all found solace in each other, and “we forgot about missing our families and the fact that we wouldn't see them for a long time.”

But outside of the class, he still found it difficult to fit in. “Many called my English ‘broken,’ but that wasn't going to define me. Instead, I used it as motivation to keep going.” With the encouragement of friends and family, Bueno Soto became proficient in English by the beginning of his junior year at Carrillo. Because of his time spent learning the language, Bueno Soto feels “it helps me move forward and support people in expressing voices that aren't recognized because of fear or the language barrier, just as I once was.”

Now in his senior year, Bueno Soto still tries to find ways to be helpful to both the Carrillo community and to others outside of the school. Most recently in the fall, Bueno Soto spoke at the Student Voice Assembly, where he addressed all of Carrillo’s Pumas.

“Last year, I saw a Latino up front, and that encouraged me,” he said. “It captured my attention and reminded me that [I] can do it too.” Because he saw himself in someone else, it became the reason he wanted to stand up not only for himself, but to other Latinos who had been in his same situation. “I wanted to be that image, an inspiration, to say that Latinos can do it too, that even if we start from the bottom, that doesn't mean we have to stay there.”

In his speech, he wanted “to tell [Latinos] that it's possible” to achieve their goals, ”even with the immigration situation we're experiencing…because everything depends on your will…[and] as my mother says, ‘You can't decide where you come from, but you decide where you're going.’”

After becoming proficient in English, Bueno Soto has taken a role as a mentor and leader in Carrillo’s Latino community. “I want them to graduate and make the most of the time they have because it goes by so fast. I feel like I'm no longer afraid of being judged, and now I try to help my friends lose that fear too, so they can dream and aspire to go to college as well.” His understanding of his community makes him a natural at giving back. “I'm there to guide them and let them know that I've been in their shoes before and I'm here to help them.”

Bueno Soto credits several teachers and faculty at Carrillo, as well as others beyond just Carrillo, for helping him adjust to his new life. He thanks Roberto Ramírez of the IAP (Immigrant Assistance Program) for encouraging him to take Honors and AP classes. In addition, he is grateful to English teacher Jordan Henry and history teacher Jeff Hitchcock for being patient with him as he learned English, and for personally guiding him through their classes, and he also credits those at Carrillo’s Restorative Center for supporting him and his friends as they adjusted to life in the US.

Now with graduation less than two months away, Bueno Soto reflects on his time at Carrillo with pride and gratitude. “I look back on my last four years with joy because I enjoyed every year and learned something in each one.” Now he is in the process of selecting a college, which to the fourteen-year-old who came from 3000 miles away with nothing and no knowledge of a language he didn’t speak, would have seemed unthinkable. He smiled when asked what advice he would have given himself at the time. “Relax, man, give it time; everything will happen in its own time…don't be afraid, because at the end of the day, what do you care about other people's opinions? Just keep doing what you're doing.”