My name is Simeona and I come from the country of the Incas, Cuzco, Peru.
As the mother of a family, I have both a daughter and a grand-daughter who are in seventh grade
in Parkland Magnet Middle School.
Tonight I want to express my thanks to you for the opportunity to succeed that you have given to
both of them.
For me, on a personal level, having had to fight day to day against cancer has taught me to see
what it is that is the most important thing I can leave to my children.
I have learned that education is the only inheritance that remains within them and that no one can
take from them. I learned to see that a child cannot wait, because time does not stand still and
before you know it, the child is an adult.
In the four years in which I have lived in the State of Maryland, I have come to appreciate the
difference that exists between schools that receive economic aid and those that do not.
For this reason I am here tonight to express my thanks to you for the opportunity that you have
given my daughter and my grand-daughter that has borne them to success and towards a better
tomorrow because of the education my daughter and granddaughter have received today at
Parkland Magnet Middle School.
I compare them to a dove that has been nourished by the support program that you have provided
and that is now ready to fly.
I ONLY ASK YOU as a mother and representative of all of these children that are present here
tonight:
DO NOT CUT THEIR WINGS. GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY WITH THIS UNIQUE
SUPPORT PROGRAM.
In this way they can finish this excellent educational program, provided by you, and they can feel
proud to say: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.