Among the parents in the audience at the Southeast Career and Technical Academy (SECTA) graduation in Las Vegas last week were Gloria Reyes and Guadalupe Bravo, proudly cheering on their oldest daughter Citlali Bravo Reyes — the first in her family to graduate high school and attend college.

“In some way, like all of us, we come here looking for the American dream, but it’s all obtained with sacrifice, working, striving. And the truth is she has put in a lot of effort into school and I’m so proud of her,” Bravo said of his daughter. “And everything is mutual — she puts in the hard work and we support her, in anything she does. Whatever she needs, we’ll be there.”

The 18-year-old holds herself to a high standard as the daughter of immigrants from Veracruz, Mexico, and she often finds herself balancing her studies, volunteer work, school activities and duties at home. Bravo Reyes’s community service efforts were recognized during the annual Hispanic Baccalaureate held by the Hispanic Educators Association of Nevada (HEAN), a nonprofit advocacy group for Hispanic educators and students. 

This year, more than 1,600 Hispanic students across Southern Nevada were honored at the graduation celebration on May 20. While 47 percent of Clark County School District's student body identifies as Hispanic, the demographic makes up 56 percent of SECTA.

“As the oldest, my parents always told me growing up that I'm supposed to set an example for [my three siblings],” Bravo Reyes said. “I also like to show them that there's always gonna be many obstacles along the way, but you're always gonna have to get up and keep going.” 

Nancy Alamo, HEAN’s president, told The Nevada Independent that the Hispanic Baccalaureate is an opportunity for all Hispanic students to “come together under one roof and celebrate cultural pride” and their accomplishments. 

“Oftentimes [they] are children of immigrants. Perhaps they came to this country without speaking English and were immersed in another culture, and had to overcome the language barrier and/or economic challenges,” Alamo said. “And they still beat those obstacles — this ceremony is a rite of passage, so to speak.” 

Bravo Reyes graduated from the school’s nursing assistant track, which allowed her to get hands-on practice at local hospitals and get a head start on her nursing degree at Nevada State College — where she will start in the fall with scholarships. She also took part in Sunrise Hospital’s Medical Explorers Program and volunteered in the neonatal unit, where she helped look after new moms and their babies. 

The experiences, she said, solidified her passion for health care and showed her the value of bilingualism and representation in the field. 

“At Sunrise [Hospital], sometimes there's patients I need to help with directions or they have questions. And most of the nurses there aren’t Spanish-speaking, so they sometimes use me as a translator,” Bravo Reyes said. “That makes me feel good because I'm able to use something I possess to help others. And that's something I'm proud of.” 

Aside from volunteering at the hospital, Bravo Reyes was also part of SECTA’s Student Organization of Latinos (SOL) all through high school — even becoming president her senior year. The group volunteers at several events every year, including events at elementary schools, local marathons and toy drives.

“I wanted to join clubs in high school, but I just wasn't sure where to start. So I thought since SOL was a Latino group, I would fit in more and have people to relate to or be able to talk to. And I definitely made a lot of friends,” she said. 

Bravo Reyes recalled the time she and the group were volunteering at a winter festival and the teens were having so much fun that she almost forgot that they were working. 

“It didn’t feel like volunteering. It became a habit. And I just remember we were all enjoying ourselves — playing with the little kids, showing them around,” she said.

Bravo Reyes’s volunteer work hasn’t just benefited others; she has also seen herself blossom with confidence as a leader. Her leadership as president of SOL and its 2022 holiday toy drive earned her the special recognition from HEAN. 

“Younger me was really shy, really timid,” she said. “It just shows how much I've grown. I'm able to socialize more with people, which is something I was not able to do.”

The first but not the last

Another student recognized at the Hispanic Baccalaureate was Pablo Macías López, who will be attending Yale in the fall to double major in music composition and astrophysics after graduating from Legacy High School with a 5.5 weighted GPA. 

He was awarded “Distinguished Scholar” for his academic achievements at the Baccalaureate. He told The Nevada Independent that the honor gave him the opportunity to “be a voice for the generation.”  

“I didn't want to make the speech about myself … I'm a representative of my generation, so I was going to speak for more than just myself,” he said in an interview this week. “Being recognized for my accomplishments in front of all those people, I just felt like I was making more people proud, not just my family … The Hispanic graduation was genuinely more fulfilling than my actual graduation because I felt represented and I felt like I was representing.”

Macías López was born in Aguascalientes in central Mexico, where his family was from before moving to North Las Vegas when he was just 2 years old. 

Growing up, he said, living in a home filled with music and conversations in Spanish felt like a portal from the English-speaking, American world outside. Macías López cultivated his interests in music and astronomy, from learning piano by himself and composing music to building rockets and researching the galaxy. 

Music teachers always encouraged his passion and taught him to really listen, he said. 

Macías López’s goal is to combine both of his passions. Although he has not watched any of the Star Wars films, he said, the soundtrack composition inspired him to “connect culture and astronomy and music together.” 

The first-generation college student chose Yale out of the six Ivy League schools he was accepted to in part because of the “vibe” of the campus, student social culture and the financial aid available to attend.  

One thing Macías López and Bravo Reyes agree on is that the support from their parents made all the difference to keep them grounded through the late nights of studying and the challenges they faced in high school.    

“[My parents] definitely are the pillars and the reason why I have a lot of motivation to continue my education,” Macías López said. “Because they didn't have that opportunity growing up. They say, ‘We want you to continue to succeed and have the best types of educational opportunities that you can get.’” 

Bravo Reyes said she wouldn’t have made it without her parents, and one of her goals in life is to give back to them and help them retire early from their jobs in construction and custodian services. 

“They've always been my rocks. Always told me to keep pushing forward. But also, they always make sure I'm good and healthy, mentally and physically,” she said. “My parents always told me ‘We want you to get a job where you don't really have to do so much hard labor and get to a point where your body is exhausted’ like they do. They wanted me to have a job where I use mostly my mind, my brain, my knowledge.”