Meztly Carreola is one of the DLA students at Anaheim High School, who has been in the DLA and DLI program since elementary. Carreola attended Price Elementary. The reason why she got into this program was because her mom saw how good of a program it was back in 2009. Carreola’s mom first heard of this program over at Price Elementary, and her mom knew she had to enroll her in the DLI program. She was luckily accepted not only as a DLI student but also a transfer student. She is so glad she continued DLA in Junior High and High School because of the many opportunities the DLA program has offered. Throughout the years, she has made so many memories. A specific memory she has that is her favorite is a field trip she took back in Junior High. Carreola and her DLA classmates went to the Placita Olvera. This field trip is one of the last ones where they were all fully together.

Academic wise, Carreola’s favorite class would be Spanish or Art. Her least favorite class would have to be Math. Being in the DLA program made things challenging for her, because of the expectations for her learning higher math skills, for example.

Some advice Carreola would give to a younger DLA student would be to not compare themselves with other DLA students. Personally, she would always compare herself because of how smart her classmates are. Of course, she was proud, and she always made sure she did her best, but it affected her mentally and she always told herself she “wasn’t trying enough” or “I need to work harder”. “Which is great to improve even more, but we all have our limits, and it’s totally okay as long as you know you tried your best”, she says. Another advice she would give is to check their classes before and visualize their schedules for future years in order to be successful in those classes.

Alexander Hernandez is another one of the students at Anaheim High School, currently a senior that has been in the program since elementary school. Hernandez attended Price Elementary, where he entered the program of DLI (Dual Language Immersion). He joined DLI because it offers teaching two languages, and it will help him in the future, like looking for a job or succeeding in college. Hernandez mentioned that being in DLA has helped him on his resume and college applications because nowadays, “we need people that are bilingual”. Some advice he would give to younger DLI/DLA students is to finish some of the requirements early, if possible. Another thing would be to be involved in the activities that are offered in the program.