When Catonsville High School senior Alejandra Mora Gomez worked in her father's restaurant in Baltimore City during her freshman year, seeing people struggling with poverty and homelessness was at odds with the middle class lifestyle she was accustomed to living in Catonsville.
"When we were working there in the city, it opened up my eyes to what there really is and the issues that there are," said Gomez, 17, who was born in Colombia and came to the U.S. with her parents as a small child. "I feel like I have to give back, because we came from a place that doesn't really have much."
Mora Gomez has volunteered more than 300 hours through her church, Trinity Assembly of God on Joppa Road in Lutherville, using her language skills to assist people in the Hispanic community experiencing homelessness, she said.
Students are required to complete 75 service learning hours to graduate from high school in the state, according to the Baltimore County Public Schools website.
Mora Gomez has been named the Baltimore County Commission for Women's Young Woman of the Year for her efforts.
She will be recognized along with two other award recipients, former Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Nancy Grasmick, the Woman of the Year, and Liberty Road Business Association Executive Director Kelly Renee Carter, LaFrance Muldrow Woman Making a Difference Awardee, by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz during a March 26 ceremony in Towson.
"Alejandra has done just a ton of community service through Casa de Maryland and through her church, a lot of which uses her Spanish language skills... I thought she'd be a perfect fit for [the award]," said her 11th grade Advanced Placement English teacher Jo-Ellen O'Dell, who nominated her for the award. "She's also an excellent English student."
"I find that she has high expectations for herself and she has a sharp intelligence which she uses to better herself and help others through volunteering," said O'Dell, who has taught at Catonsville High for 11 years.
Mora Gomez said her father, Diego Mora Gomez, decided to move to the U.S. in order to provide a better life for his family.
"He was like, 'One day, I looked into the fridge and there was only enough milk for you and that was it,'" Mora Gomez said. "He realized the only way he was going to get ahead was moving my family here."
"We have family here and they were like, 'You can come over.'" she said.
Her parents packed their bags and they left the town of Manizales for Maryland, she said.
"They did everything to make ends meet," Mora Gomez said. "They kept pushing through.
"I know there were times when it seemed like there was no more light at the end of the tunnel, but I guess we've been lucky."
Her father learned Italian cooking techniques and opened the restaurant Mama's Cucina, which closed in 2012, and her mother worked for car rental companies at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, she said.
Mora Gomez is thankful that her parents' hard work has afforded a better life for her and her younger sister Daniela, 13, she said.
Although her family lives a comfortable life now, hearing stories about her parents' life in Colombia serves as a reminder of why it's important to help those who are less fortunate, she said.
"Sometimes, when people bring their kids over to the U.S., they bring their kids up in American culture. Sometimes, they forget the culture that they came from. They also forget the poverty their family came from," Mora Gomez explained.
"I feel like I have to give back," Mora Gomez said. "We came from a place that didn't have much."
Because her parents didn't speak English fluently and spoke Spanish at home, Mora Gomez said she learned English by watching TV shows such as Dragon Tales and Teletubbies.
Mora Gomez said she has used her proficiency in English and Spanish to help those coming from Spanish-speaking countries who don't speak English.
For example, she, along with her mother, Claudia Mora Gomez, her mother's friend and daughter helped a woman who didn't speak any English and was trying to get away from her husband, she said.
"Between the four of us, we helped her find a women's shelter," Mora Gomez said. "It was a very unexpected situation, but the ability to speak both languages helps — that woman would have been on the streets that night."
Through that experiences and others like it, Mora Gomez said she has learned the challenges immigrants face coming to the U.S.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the foreign-born population in Maryland grew from 6.6 percent of the total population in 2000 to 14 percent between 2009 and 2013.
"Everyone has the illusion that you can come to America and get a great job, and you can send money home, but a lot of them aren't aware that when they come here, they are going to face discrimination," Mora Gomez said.
"I don't think they realize they're coming to another place with an equal struggle," Mora Gomez said. "Sometimes, the dream doesn't come true."
Mora Gomez said a human geography class she took in 10th grade showed her the way poverty is structured throughout cities and introduced her to the United Nations.
That year, she joined the Model UN club at her school, an academic competition that exposes students to international diplomacy.
It exposed her to different issues and situations around the world.
She is now president of the club, and has plans to study international relations as a college student next year.
"Volunteering is very much a thing that is still needed and...I realize I need to help at home before I help abroad," Mora Gomez said. "The place where I'm living should be stable before I go and help other nations stabilize."