Every student has their own story and journey, each story making up a part of themselves. For senior Candelaria Perez, she is reopening a chapter in her story. Perez gives us an insight on her story and where it all started.
“I grew up in Argentina. I moved to the U.S. when I was six, and I came here because of my dad’s job as an accountant. He works for Bunge, which is a global company. So at first I lived in New York. I lived there for seven years. Then I came here and I’ve been living here for five or six years,” Perez said.
Now Perez is 17 and moving back to Argentina where it all started. She will be going to school at Catholic University of Cordoba to study food science, which is something she really wants to do.
“I’ll be going to the area of Cordoba, which is the second biggest capital of Argentina besides Buenos Aires. I’m going be going to UCC, which is a private university,” Perez said.
Perez wanted to study food science because she believes that it is important to know what you are eating every day and how there are many contributing factors to it because her father works for a food science company, Bunge, this industry has been a part of her whole life.
“I feel it’s very important knowing what components are behind foods and making sure that there are no chemicals or dyes and making sure that these are good and safe ingredients that are in the products.” Perez said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food scientists work in many areas including laboratories, offices and fields. They can be seen spending much of their time studying data and looking at reports. When they do fieldwork they visit farms and processing plants.
Before she travels to Argentina to study food science, what does she still have to do to conclude her chapter at PCH? Even with such an exciting change coming to her, moving to Argentina in January puts a lot of pressure on her now because there are many things she has to get done before she can officially graduate high school.
“So since I wanted to graduate early, it’s impacting because I have to do finals earlier because I need it. I need a transcription already, and they need my grades submitted. So it is impacting me. Like how much pressure I have to do to do those finals and do them the first week of December,” Perez said.
Throughout all the pressure and stress to get herself ready for university, her parents have always been her biggest support through every chapter of her life. Perez knows her parents are always supporting her in what she does.
“I would say my parents, they’re pretty open to me basically, like expressing what I feel and everything and also like what my thoughts are. And they’re very supportive in my decisions as to where I want to study. That’s why Argentina, they let me,” Perez said.
Not only do Perez’s parents support her, teachers like Jessica Chrimser, Perez’s science teacher, believe in her and support her too. Chrimser believes Perez’s willingness to challenge herself will be good for her career.
“I think she’s not scared of a challenge. And a lot of times careers in Stem are challenging. So I think that’s a great characteristic that she has is her enthusiasm for learning,” Chrimser said.
Perez has ideas for her future after university too. She loves the idea of coming back and maybe starting a career here with her food science degree. For her an ideal place would be Miami because she loves it.
“I always will love the idea when I come back and would like to go to Miami because I love Miami,” Perez said. “So I’ve been researching and I’ve been looking into energy drinks and companies like, for example, Celsius.”
Celsius is based in Boca Ratoa, Fl., which is near Miami, so it would be a good fit for Perez.
“I was thinking with my major, I could use it to help out or anything with my knowledge to help out and make sure that the ingredients, that everything is good,” Perez said.
A new experience can make people experience a variety of different emotions. Just like any person, Perez is feeling a roller coaster of emotions.
“I’m excited and nervous,” Perez said. “I will be going over there by myself Jan. 1. I have my flight and just the whole moving thing. But my family over there is going to support me and help me if I need help with anything.”
