Ana Trejo, Murray County High School's valedictorian, delivers her speech during graduation. 

CHATSWORTH, Ga. — With her soft voice echoing through the speakers at Murray County High School’s football stadium, Ana Trejo spoke during her valedictory address on topics she said mean a lot to her: immigration, having been raised in a single-parent home and “succeeding against the odds.”

“I couldn’t let that big of an opportunity slide by without representing (people) who aren’t heard,” said Trejo. 

Trejo, 18, said topics such as immigration often aren’t spoken about because of their “controversial nature.”

“Politicians and people shy away from them, and I wanted to be a voice,” she said. “All it takes is one voice to start a conversation, and from the looks of it (feedback she has received) I think I started quite a few.” 

Video of her address has been shared on Facebook more than 2,000 times since the graduation on May 24.

“I knew if I talked about immigration first people would listen and it would be the defining moment,” Trejo said. 

She spoke about the long waiting period required to become a U.S. citizen and mentioned the “deportation bus” of Republican state Sen. Michael Williams, who ran unsuccessfully for his party’s nomination for governor.

Trejo said she could hear mumbling from some in the audience as soon as she began speaking about immigration.  

“It was so hard to continue because I saw people turn away and begin talking,” she said. “My voice was shaking a little, but I got through it.”

She talked about her family receiving state assistance and of being raised in a single-parent home. She said she wanted to use her voice to “fight back on stereotypes.” She said she’d heard people talk about low-income families, not knowing she was part of one.

“People didn’t know that if my family didn’t receive EBT (electronic benefits transfer) I wouldn’t have food,” she said. EBT is a system that allows recipients of government benefits to transfer those benefits to a retailer to pay for items.

Trejo said she purposely didn’t talk about her situation at school.

“In my speech I mentioned people think my life is perfect,” she said. “They don’t know everything I had to go through.”

But Trejo said she never used her problems as an excuse.

“This speech was my chance to tell people that no, we (Hispanics) are not all lazy, because I am one of them,” she said. 

Trejo, a native of Chatsworth, is the second oldest of four children born to Ana Jacobo and Cirino Trejo. She said her father was not allowed to return to the United States after a trip to Mexico in 2010 and everything went “downhill” for her family. 

“My mom was diagnosed with cancer shortly after that and was hospitalized,” she said. “No one was paying the rent so we were evicted.”

Trejo said her family was homeless for about six months.

“No one knew about my situation,” she said. “My sister and I went to school and didn’t talk about it.”

Shortly after becoming homeless, Trejo wrote a short story for the Young Authors Writing Competition, a national competition for high school writers of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. The competition is sponsored by the English and Creative Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago.

“The story was about my life. I changed the characters, but the undeniable parallel revealed it was me,” Trejo said. 

She said a teacher pulled her to the side and inquired about the story. She admitted the story was about her.

She said the story was sent to different organizations that help families in need.  A short time later a local church reached out to help the family.

“One of the families offered to let us live in their basement for awhile,” Trejo said. “We stayed there until Action Ministries got involved.”

Action Ministries, which has an office in Rome, addresses the “challenges of poverty by focusing on hunger relief, housing and education,” its website states. Trejo said the organization provided her family with a home rent free for two years, which allowed them to save money for a house. 

Trejo said her mother continued working while going to chemotherapy sessions.

“Whenever my mom couldn’t work  we would sell things at the flea market,” she said. “We were trying to get money any way we could.” 

Trejo said school was her escape from reality and everything going on in her life.

“I became focused on my schoolwork,” she said. “No one knew my mom was in the hospital or that my dad was no longer here.”

She said school went from being her “safe haven to salvation.”

“Through writing and education I was able to better the lives of my family,” Trejo said.

Two weeks before graduating from Murray County High, Trejo received an associate’s degree in general studies from Dalton State College. The dual enrollment program is for students who have completed the ninth grade and want to take college courses.

“It was a little bizarre to graduate with a college degree before my high school diploma,” she said.

In June, Trejo left to attend Duke University on a full scholarship. She plans to major in pre-medicine and business. The scholarship is through a national nonprofit program called QuestBridge that links high-achieving, low-income students to 41 of the top universities in the country including Brown, Emory, Stanford and Yale. 

“I will ultimately go to medical school and become a doctor,” Trejo said. 

She said she knew Duke was the best place for her.

“It’s a good school and not too far from home,” she said.

Avery Hamilton, an English teacher at Murray County High, said he’s known Trejo since she was a student in his sophomore honors class.

“She was very bright and analytical,” he said. “Ana was always first to answer a question and look at it with a deeper meaning. I remember her being an excellent writer as well.”

Hamilton said he thought a lot about what Trejo had to overcome to be valedictorian.

“Her address at graduation highlighted the difficulties she and many others face that most people don’t think about. Ana’s story is her own but it spoke to the hearts of many others,” he said.

Hamilton said Trejo worked hard to achieve her academic successes.

“I believe her accomplishments in the face of great adversity is proof of that,” he said. “I feel proud to have had Ana as a student and I am excited to see what the future holds for her.”

Trejo worked part time at Little Caesars in Chatsworth while in high school. She said she got the job to help with bills, gas money for her car and to pay for a senior trip to Europe. She also played soccer and basketball, ran cross country and participated in track events.

“I wondered how I’d juggle four sports, attend high school and college classes, homework, work and maintain a social life,” she said. “I was more than a full-time student, but I made it work.”

Ana Trejo’s valedictory speech

First and foremost, I want to thank the gracious Lord.

For being with me since I was a baby on an umbilical cord.

Because the Lord is my potter, while I am his clay.

And with his almighty hands, he has molded me into the person I am today.

Some of you may see me standing on this stage here 

And assume that I have my life all planned out and clear

But the reality is that I am far beyond from perfect

So, this speech is for those who society labels as “rejects,” “defects” or “incorrect.”

To the matters that still go unaddressed because they are not media-interesting subjects

Like the topic of immigration in this nation

In which the president makes harsh and false accusations.

Although some may claim “It’s only the criminal immigrants we resent” 

They do not realize my parents are some of the people Mexico sent.

Now, we really do try to come here the right way

But we can’t when our VISA application has a plus-two-year delay.

You know, Republican for governor, instead of a campaign bus for deportation

We should come together and work on the laws of immigration.

Y a mi querida Latinx comunidad,

No dejen que les corten las alas para volar

O que sus sueños cambien por el odio o la construcción de un muro

¡Porque aquí estoy yo como testigua que si se pudo!

(And to my beloved Latino community,

(Don’t let them cut your wings to fly

(Or that your dreams change by hatred or the construction of a wall

(Because I’m here as a witness that we can do it!)

And with the mention of my parents, 

I would like to thank all those who are present.

You parents have the most important yet unpaid job

Of raising us to make sure we don’t come out like slobs.

Fellow classmates, remember you will always be their baby to hold,

And do not reject your parents because they are also growing old.

One day, they will no longer be there, 

To scold you, to hold you, to love you, to run their fingers through your hair.

Also, thank you to my Mom and all the single parents 

Who are so strong and refuse to be bent or have dents

You are doing great at your two roles so don’t overanalyze

Because you are more than amazing in our eyes.

And thank you to everyone else in our families

From grandparents to cousins to aunts and uncles actually.

And thank you to our administrators and staff

For everything they do on their behalf.

Lastly, thank you to all the teachers and to Mr. Hamilton

For making sure their teaching job is well done.

Now back to my speech or poem or rhyme, 

About people and topics that do not get enough reaction time.

Like the school shootings in Florida and other states

In which some students are sent to heaven’s gates

Or our peer no one imagines anything of 

Who did an unimaginable thing that no one can forget thereof

But that classmate is never really ever gone

Because he left us fond memories that will live on.

And to those whose lives are kind of rocky

That even their coffee needs coffee

Know that sometimes we need some lows 

To cherish the highs real close

And cherish and love everyone around us

Because love is love and there’s nothing to discuss.

Thus, to the LGBT community,

Keep demanding equal opportunities

And in light of equality and progression, 

Let’s not forget about the low-income battling their own recession.

With my free lunch and EBT food stamps badge pinned on me, 

Do not think that those who struggle financially are lazy or carefree.

In the end, we are all human 

No matter the religion, the gender, the wealth, or the color of skin. 

Since I cannot foresee the future or manipulate fate 

I cannot stand up here and give the traditional speech that we all will do great 

That the world is served to us on a silver plate

But I can voice for the people and matters unheard 

To make sure their thoughts and concerns are not deferred.

And I can also say that it’s our imperfections and flaws

That make us perfectly unique and deserving of a round of applause.

As for me, I defeated the odds and stereotypes and expectations, 

I embraced that I was a female, Hispanic, single-parent household, low-income, first generation.

Class of 2018, the decision is yours to choose and do, 

Will you join imperfect me and overcome adversity too?