Hi everyone. My name is Edman. I’m a first year student at Lane Community College. I would like to share something about me with you.

I was born in Shelton, Washington and my parents and I moved to Guatemala when I was one year old. I spent most of my life in Guatemala. While growing up in Guatemala I learned to speak one of the Mayan languages. Qanjobal is my first language, it is one of many of the languages spoken in Guatemala. When I started to go to school in Guatemala, that’s when I learned to speak Spanish. I spend my whole childhood in Guatemala.

Five years ago we decided to came back to the U.S., five years ago I began a journey I did not know at the time would change my life. When I came back to U.S., I enrolled in high school. It was a hall different experience going to a school here in the United States, at the time I didn’t speak English. I remember students and teacher talking to me and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. It took me awhile to start to understand and to speak English. Four years later after everything I went through I graduated. It was a big accomplishment for me and my family. Now here you have me!