Te veo en el P2s!

Te veo en el P2s!

BY Carolina Perez

¡I will see you en el P2! 

That’s where we got together—our safe space. The year was 1994, James Lick High School. I just arrived from Jalisco. I was ready to make all the big money, buy tennis [shoes] and get everything my heart desired. But I was not ready for the nonsense and the bullying that I was going to receive. Thank GOD for Mr. Serrano, our ESL teacher and the one who cared for all of us. Now that I work in education and empowering youth, I know what he was doing. He wanted us to get interested in something, learn English, make a change, develop thick skin, and be ready for the putasos. 

P2 was the classroom to be during lunch, right after we got our greasy grilled cheese and la leche de chocolate. We needed to go back to our sanctuary, where I met all of my friends who helped me assimilate into the barrio, the East Side of San Jose. I was friends with Gina, from Korea, one from Vietnam, Albert from the Philippines, and los que andaban en las cholerias. It was survivor mode. Mr. Serrano gave a damn. And he was the first person who believed in us.