Top 10 Spotlight: Jocelyn Sosa-Ramirez Mentors Students Coming from Mexico

by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

Jocelyn Sosa Ramirez’s family moved to the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico when she was 3 years old.

Her experiences learning English have inspired to do the same for other students coming from Mexico to help them with the transition of learning English and adapting to schools in the United States.

Jocelyn, the daughter of Leon Sosa Salvator and Alicia Ramirez Garnica, is one of the Top 10 academic students in the Los Fresnos High School Class of 2016. She founded the Newcomer Program to help those students coming from Mexico.

“We have a lot of kids here that have come from Mexico, and there aren’t many programs that target that population,” she said. “I went through that a younger age and I wanted to start something that could help them so that they could see that they do have support here.”

Classmates Natalia de Leon, Jose Luis Moreno and Claudia Sauceda joined Jocelyn in the program to help these students. Like Jocelyn, their native language is Spanish and only Spanish is spoken in their homes.

The group helps the newcomers develop their English skills to facilitate their transition into the United States academically and socially.

“My older brother and sister were 11 and 12 when we moved to the United States, and they were ESL students,” Jocelyn said. “They experienced what these students go through.”

Motivation is part of who Jocelyn is.

“I’ve always been self-driven,” Jocelyn said. “I had to learn everything by myself, but it was fine. Regardless of the language barrier, my parents have always been very supportive. I wanted to make them proud.”

After school on a typical hectic Wednesday, Jocelyn and the other students would drive from LFHS to LFU to tutor those students. After that, she would go to Our Heavenly Catholic Church in Olmito to teach Christian education to younger children.

Helping younger students is something Jocelyn enjoys. After school on Tuesdays, she is a Coordinator of the LFHS Ojo A Ojo (Eye to eye) Mentorship program, started by 2015 graduate Audrey Urbis. Ojo a Ojo is made up of juniors and seniors who tutor struggling students.

She holds leadership positions in four other organizations, including president of the National Honor Society. She is also a National Hispanic Scholar and an AP Scholar with Distinction.

Even with the school and community service, she works hards to maintain excellent grades.

“I wanted to prove to myself and others that I have what it takes to be successful,” Jocelyn said. “I want my younger sisters (in middle school and elementary school) to know that if I could do it, they can do it too. That’s what I have always told them. I told them that they have to do better than me.”

Jocelyn received her letter of notification that she was chosen a Gates Millennium Scholar last week. She plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin, and major in Mathematics. She hopes to become an immigration lawyer.

“Mathematics has always been a strong suit of mine,” she said. “You get the critical thinking skills, and you have to be a quick problem solver. You see things in a different way than other people. It gives me a unique perspective of the world.”

Her advice for younger students: “Know your strengths and weaknesses. Take care of the harder subjects first and get them out of the way. Everything else after that will be a bit easier. Find a passion for something that you like to do, that will make the experience all the better. If you don’t find it right away, you eventually will.”