Vote for best response to this week’s Desert Dialogues question

Now that our high school students from Coachella Valley Unified, Desert Sands Unified and Palm Springs Unified school districts have returned from spring break, the next installment of Desert Dialogues is also back for our readers’ voting consideration.

“I love this project,” said reader Kathy Blessing in a recent email. “It’s wonderful to give young people a voice. Not (to) be cliché but they are the future!”

Every Monday, through the end of the school year, we’ll continue to publish several students’ responses to our weekly Desert Dialogues prompt. Just as we do with our Athlete of the Week, readers get to vote in a poll (found at the bottom of this story) for the response that resonated with them the most. To maintain an even playing field, we will initially keep the identities of the participating students anonymous. The student who receives the most votes will be “revealed” in a story the following Monday.

Read on for this week’s responses — which have been edited for clarity — and vote for the one that resonated with you the most by noon on Friday (extended this week due to some delays on our end — oh, music festival season!).

If you wish to provide feedback or more detail about your choice of vote, please feel free to reach out: jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.

This week’s prompt comes from Cristian Miguel, a junior at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal: How has growing up in the Coachella Valley shaped who you are and what you want to do in the future?

Student A

The Coachella Valley has not always been my home; in fact, New York used to be what I called home. However, within the past year-and-a-half, that has changed. I’m now honored to call the Coachella Valley my new home. As a Mexican American, I have been introduced to the different cultures that Coachella

offers and have even met people who were from the same region as my parents.

As a student, I have had the opportunity to learn from different schools (three, in fact), and I even got the opportunity to take a variety of art classes, ranging from hand ceramics to painting. Additionally, through intramural programs, I got to expand the range of sports that I could play. The community that I am now in is absolutely amazing as well. What I have always wanted to do was become a doctor. Being in Coachella, I have been fortunate enough to meet people who could advise me — including my cousin who works in that field — so being here has definitely made me a different person, and that has definitely helped me.

Student B

Growing up in the Coachella Valley has shaped me in many ways, including how I define hard work. My parents are farmworkers who have dedicated over 22 years of their lives providing fresh organic products to the Coachella Valley and other parts of the United States. Through their hard work and dedication in pushing forward in life, they have taught me what true humble hard work is and have sacrificed many things to provide for me and my brother. Living in the Coachella Valley has given me the opportunity to have helped my parents in the fields and showed me that that back-breaking job is not the kind of job I would like for the rest of my life.

This has allowed me to get involved in many extracurricular activities — from Youth Advisory Council, FIND Food Bank’s Youth Advisory Council, Migrant Leadership Club and its migrant education program, National Honor Society, Upward Bound and dance. During the summer of 2023, I had the honor to do an internship with the office of Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, which opened up many opportunities to know more about my community and ways I could help and get involved. This inspired me to grow up and attend a four-year school within the University of California system, as well as to become more politically active in my community and create organizations where I can help farmworkers, provide transportation for the workers, help disadvantaged communities, bring medical centers and more opportunities to the valley. I hope to accomplish this and more through my dedication.

Student C

Growing up in the Coachella Valley has definitely shaped who I am today and who I aspire to become in the future. I have met incredible people in our valley who have been an inspiration for me. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and growing up in the valley is one of those reasons. My dream career path is in journalism and TV news, and the connections I’ve made in the valley have brought me closer to that goal. My interest in news began around fifth grade.

During the pandemic, I had the opportunity, thanks to Ms. Bossi — whom I am very grateful to have met — to participate in school broadcasts, which led me to be a part of it and creating my show, RNN. This opportunity allowed me to meet and interview Bianca Rae. I also met various reporters and anchors when I was interviewed on TV multiple times. Now in high school, I am able to continue broadcasting my show and participate in the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Overall, I am very grateful to be a part of the valley, as it has shaped me into the person I am today and the person I hope to be in the future.

Student D

Growing up in the Coachella Valley has shown me a different view of life. I grew up on the eastern side of the Coachella Valley. That’s where all the farmworkers are from, like my parents — who have been working in the fields ever since they came to the United States. From a young age, I saw my parents wake up at 5 a.m. to go to work in the fields to be able to have food at the table. Seeing my dad’s dirty hands and my mom’s tired eyes really opened my mind. They work every day to give me a better life — a life where I get to be someone more. My parents always tell me to do well in school and to have good grades. I always felt pressured by that, but over time, it showed me that they don’t want me to end up like them. They want me to glow, grow and succeed in life. They want me to live that American dream that they couldn’t live. I have always valued hard work due to my parents. Farmworkers don’t have it easy, but they never give up. Growing up and seeing the conditions they endure has taught me determination and hard work. It has impacted me to always do my best.

Because of this, when I grow up, I want to be able to help people in any kind of way or form. I want to be an ultrasound technician and open my own business to help the pregnant women in my community who might not be able to afford a check-up. Moreover, the eastern Coachella Valley has taught me determination and hard work that I will always take into account for and help out my community.

Student E

Growing up in the Coachella Valley has exposed me to a lot of differences when I compare it to different places. I’ve had discussions with other youth about these differences, but one in particular that has stood out to me has always been infrastructure.

When I visit other cities across the valley, the differences become more apparent: from smoother roads to newer homes. These factors eventually made me realize what I wanted to pursue and contribute to our valley. Because I am someone who enjoys math, what I can hopefully contribute in the near future would be thanks to an engineering or architecture degree. So, being able to find a passion due to concerns I’ve had, and hopefully being part of a solution, has truly shaped what growing up in the Coachella Valley means to me.

Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.