It is common to see newly immigrated students struggle to adjust to a new country with foreign cultural norms, a new school system and most importantly, a distant language. These students usually get placed in the English for Speakers of Other Languages program to acclimate to the new language and school environment. However, junior Selena Feal, having gone through the ESOL program believes that additional resources are vital to adequately teach students. As part of the Health Science, Public Service and Law program at Gables, Feal has recently made history with her Strategies for Targeted Education and Parent Support Adelante non-profit organization, an initiative aimed at helping students who were in the same situation as her just a couple of years ago.
Feal was born in Cuba, moved to Spain and in 2016, immigrated to the U.S. where she entered Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Like most foreign students, she was placed into ESOL. While one of its main goals is to aid students coming in from foreign countries, Feal explains it is not as simple as that. In ESOL, she faced numerous obstacles; from teachers unable to comprehend her needs to her parents struggling to support her through her academic journey. However, all her struggles seemed to dissolve when she met her fourth-grade teacher who guided her through the process of becoming an accomplished student.
“There’s nothing like [S.T.E.P.S Adelante] out there and the more research I did the more I wanted to do it. Like finding out 20,000 immigrants came in last year and they’re getting no help, I knew I had to do something,” junior Feal said.
Feal first got the idea for her S.T.E.P.S Adelante program from her Middle School Program Coordinator, Ms. Ramos. She told her to make a passion project attempting to solve a problem in her community. While at first, Feal was not sure what problems were being faced, she thought back on her experience in the ESOL program and quickly pinpointed a crucial issue students coming to the U.S. were facing. Feal felt motivated to help students who were facing the same problems she overcame just a couple of years prior, yet she lacked the guidance she truly needed to start her program.
However, this changed when Feal attended a Future Business Leaders of America workshop where she was introduced to the FBLA guidebook. The guidebook outlined how to start a successful organization, starting with why she wanted to start said program. Feal quickly got inspired and interviewed middle and high school students in ESOL along with coordinators and parents of students in the program.
“Every time I interviewed someone, something was different, so I had to alter my original idea. What I thought I would do at first completely changed by the end of all my interviews. The way that the guidebook helped me was truly amazing,” junior Feal said.
Feal worked tirelessly throughout her sophomore year creating video modules, a website and most importantly, talking to the students at Ponce de Leon Middle School. Through her hard work, her program began taking shape. Her video modules were first shown at Ponce and later at Gables, leading her to receive positive feedback.
“I got really good results from a couple of module videos I had for them because I did an incoming survey where the middle school ESOL students at Ponce answered how informed they truly felt in the ESOL program. The average was two out of ten [with] ten being most informed. They explained how they were completely lost but, by the end of the program, the average was a nine, so we saw lots of improvement,” junior Feal said.
With its rising success, the S.T.E.P.S Adelante program was then submitted to the Business Achievement Awards Capstone Project with FBLA. Feal made history in Gables when she was able to proceed to the final round at the national competition. She represented Florida as the single representative to go to the FBLA National Leadership Conference, where she presented her project to judges and many others critics and professionals.
“[Feal]’s project involved several of the areas which FBLA members work on: management skills, digital design, and program creation; and used it to build tangible change in her community. It was really impressive and definitely one of the top Business Associate Agreement projects I have seen our members do in Florida, if not the country. In fact, at the NLC, judges were so impressed with her projects they asked her to impromptu explain her BAA experience to FBLA advisers who were attending the National Conference,” Executive Assistant in the FBLA National Southern Region Council Fabio Fabbiani said.
As Feal came back from nationals, she was ready to take her program to the next level to reach her ultimate goal of helping all ESOL students. First, she started professionally filming her video modules, and then talked with Gables’ newest principal Mr. Balboa, who is currently aiding her in expanding her program to other high schools across Miami.
“[Feal]’s story in FBLA is truly fantastic. The BAA Program is usually one that members take one to two years to complete, [Feal] did it in a matter of months; and made it to the National Finals. I see [Feal] holding a position of higher leadership in FBLA at the state level and inspiring thousands of Florida FBLA members to follow in her footsteps. She has the passion, ideas, and conviction to do anything she sets herself out to do,” Executive Assistant in the FBLA National Southern Region Council Fabbiani said.
Though Feal has already made strides in the world of education and FBLA, she still holds plans for the future of her project. Her primary goal is to partner with more schools throughout the city, introducing her video modules to more students in need. Later on, [Feal] hopes to partner with Miami-Dade and a national education organization to fulfill her ultimate goal; helping ESOL students all across the country become successful.
