Emma Guevara '23 Guatemala

Guevara shares her Voices Assembly experience and difficulties with picking a culture.

Photo of Emma Guevara '23. Gator file photo.

Photo of Emma Guevara '23. Gator file photo.

Guevara's mother and aunt stand in front of the Washington Monument after arriving in the U.S. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Guevara's mother and aunt stand in front of the Washington Monument after arriving in the U.S. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Photo of Guevara's mother and aunt in front of the White House after arriving in the U.S. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Photo of Guevara's mother and aunt in front of the White House after arriving in the U.S. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Emma Guevara ‘23 was one of the speakers at April’s Voice Assembly. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Guatemala.  

Guevara shared that the Voices Assembly went as she hoped it would.  

“I think it went a lot better than I thought it was going to. My mom and I were really nervous, and we just didn’t really want to get nervous on stage and lose our authenticity,” Guevara said.  “But I think that once we did it, we were really proud of ourselves, and we got a lot of love after that.” 

Guevara also mentioned that her parents wanted her to live the “American dream” and go to a private school, and that when she was growing up, she felt she had two different lives to live.  

Photo of Guevara's family meeting in Guatemala. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Photo of Guevara's family meeting in Guatemala. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

In addition, Guevara’s parents wanted their daughter to experience both the Guatemalan and American cultures. However, Guevara noted the difficulty of committing to both.  

"They also didn’t want me to lose the kind of culture that we have so they wanted to keep me learning Spanish, stay within my culture, but also still live the American culture," Guevara said.

Guevara and her sister sit on a bench during a recent trip to Guatemala. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

Guevara and her sister sit on a bench during a recent trip to Guatemala. Photo Courtesy of Emma Guevara.

"So it was pretty difficult, and as they were learning English, I was learning English at school, so it was kind of hard for me to keep Spanish at home.”