From Ecuador to Brewster to Boston: A Journey that Doesn’t End

Junior Emily Baculima is excited to be representing her school and her country.

Junior Emily Baculima is excited to be representing her school and her country.

Emily Baculima, a sixteen-year-old girl at Brewster High School, is currently in the eleventh grade, and has been selected as a representative delegate at the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders, to be held on June 29 – July 1, 2017. The Congress will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, and is hosted by the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists, where she will be given the Award of Excellence.

Baculima received her award in the mail. Upon receiving the award, elegantly printed with a professional aura, Baculima could barely contain her excitement.

Growing up in Cuenca, Ecuador, Emily Baculima immigrated to the United States on July 29, 2015. She has been attending BHS for a year now, and is, understandably, proud of her newest accomplishment. ¨It’s only been a year since I‘ve been here,” says Baculima, “and I think I’m doing a good job of showing people why I came here.¨ She added, “I am Brewster High School; we are all Brewster High School.”

When Baculima first arrived in the United States, she felt extremely isolated. She was surrounded by people she didn’t know, speaking a language she didn’t understand, in a land unfamiliar to her. She recalled her first day of school and how overwhelmed she felt walking into her first period class, hearing a foreign language full of harsh consonants and guttural vowels. Moving is never easy, but Baculima’s move was exacerbated by the fact that she wasn’t moving just a town away: she was moving an entire country away. It is easy to understand why she still fiercely misses her home country.

All this isn’t to say that Baculima isn’t adjusting, because she is, and remarkably so. After only a year living in the US, Baculima speaks almost fluent English, and does so with poise, grace, and dazzling confidence. She has begun to connect with her peers and has made a couple of good friends. She has found solace inside photography, and surprisingly, math. Baculima states, “I like numbers, I like solving things.” She is currently enrolled in AP Computer Science and plans to pursue a career in the field.
Baculima pushes herself academically in an effort to fulfill her goal. She wishes to continue to grow and learn, proving to herself, and others, that this move to Brewster was profoundly worth it. This award is valid proof of her efforts and is only a harbinger of what is to come.

It is clear that Emily Baculima has a bright future ahead of her. She plans to attend college and pursue a career in aviation or computer science. We here at BHS congratulate her on her award and wish her the best of luck as she pursues her place in the world.