Daniel Omar Araniz
Dear Summer Search Foundation,
My name is Daniel Omar Araniz. I am a junior at Watertown High School. My parents, Juan and Maria Araniz are immigrants from South America. I would like to talk about finding family in places you would least expect it and in places you would most expect it.
When I was in the third grade, my teacher, Beth Coughlin, called on me to read aloud. I could not. I felt embarrassed and ashamed, but especially angry that no one had noticed my problem until now. From kindergarten until second grade, I was in a large, multi-grade classroom with the same teacher for three years. My parents, struggling with working and their own weak English, couldn't help me. I had been missed, neglected, ignored.
When Mrs. Coughlin discovered my problem, she made a goal for herself and me; I was going to learn how to read by the time I left the third grade. Mrs. Coughlin wasn’t the only person who reached out to me at this time. In the third grade I met my best friend. I did not know it at the time, but he and his family would become a big part of my life. His mother was shocked to find out that I could not read and joined in the effort to teach me.
This made me understand something very important about my family. My dad was never there for me when I was young. He was not there when I woke up in the morning, he was not there when I got home from school, and he was not there when I went to bed. He never went to any of my school activities or even conferences with my teachers. He was not there when I was having trouble learning to read. Instead, he was at work in a factory that makes Christmas ornaments. He would leave the house at 6 o'clock in the morning and come home at 11 o'clock at night. The only real reason I knew I had a dad was that he would call at dinner time to tell us he was staying at work for overtime, and on the weekend, exhausted by the week's work, he would do nothing but sleep. I saw the effect of this on my sisters. Not having a father figure, they made some bad choices when they were younger. I believe I would have followed the same path as my sisters, but my surrogate family was there to help. As the years went, on I became closer and closer to them, and soon I began to consider them my second family. At first, my mother was skeptical about this. She wondered why I was always out of the house. I thought she might have even been a little hurt.
Soon something would happen that would make my parents have to lean on this family too. My family was evicted from the house that we had been living in for twelve years. Being evicted meant having to leave Watertown all together. When I first found out about it, I was heartbroken and ashamed.
The first person I told would be a person that I did not even consider a friend, my wrestling coach. After a hard practice, he asked jokingly who was not going to sign up for the team next year. I told him I could not and the reason why. I did not know it then, but this was a smart choice. My coach decided to spread the word of my eviction, and he was able to set up an interview for my family with the director of public housing. The director greeted my parents with a handshake, but when he saw me, a large smile came across his face and I wondered why. He told me he had gotten letters from people all around Watertown telling him about me and why I should be allowed to stay in my town. I never felt more important than at that moment. With my dad's good credit history and the letters that people sent in, my family's name was placed near the top of the list for the next available house.
I never thought there would be another event that could affect me in such a big way. I was wrong... Throughout the [Summer Search] trip with Deer Hill, the counselors would constantly tell me that I was doing such a good job at keeping the group together. I thought they were just saying that to make me feel good and secretly they were telling that to all the students, but this still made feel happy for they were noticing me. People were noticing me, the person I was, my work ethic, how I do not like to stop working until the work is done. It made me proud but much more importantly, it made me realize how much I am like... my dad. I can proudly say that my father is the person that inspires me to be the best I can be today...
Thank you,
Daniel Araniz