“I want to be able to change my life and mold it to what I want it to be in the future,” Mahalia Delgado said.

Mahalia Delgado is the daughter of Rene and Felicia Delgado and a big sister to Dayanara/Dede.  Her extracurriculars include STUCCO/TAFE, cross country, and basketball.  A few of her hobbies include painting, singing, lying in bed watching Netflix, and snapchatting with her friends.  At school she has a favorite place to be and a favorite teacher. 

“My favorite place at school is the library,” Delgado said. 

Not only does Mahalia have a favorite teacher, but she has a pretty good reason to say why Mrs. Roman is her favorite. 

“I spend most of my day with Mrs. Roman,” Delgado said.  “I have four periods with her a day.  She is funny, compassionate, and caring.  Also, she is a very great teacher that I have learned a lot from over the years.” 

From experiences in high school Mahalia has found the joy of helping classes in elementary. 

“When I was in basketball, we would adopt a class and help them with whatever they needed,” Delgado said.  “For Mrs. Roman’s Instructional Practice class, we aid a class, and this year I chose second grade.  I met this amazing boy whose name was Adrian, who made me decide to go into the correct path.”

As the years went by in high school, Mahalia realized that a specific person had a lot of impact on her life. 

“My mom has impacted me the most,” Delgado said.  “I can thank my mom for teaching me to behave, be independent, and trusting me to do certain things.  Everything she and my father have done for me has created where I am today.” 

After graduation Mahalia does have a plan. 

“I plan to attend Arizona State University.  I hope to attend that college to get my master’s degree in special education.” Delgado said. 

After Mahalia receives her master’s degree at college, she plans to move. 

“I plan to live somewhere near water,” Delgado said.  “With a great special education job at any school.” 

Looking back at her high school career Mahalia will always remember an incident in the cafeteria. 

“My favorite memory was at lunch when it was Angel’s birthday, and she brought a cheesecake,” Delgado said.  “While she was trying to open it, the cheesecake’s bottom slipped and some of it fell.  The rest of it almost fell too.” 

From the experiences this year in the classrooms with the little kids and the talks with Mrs. Roman her final decision was made.

“She really did find what she wanted to do this year,” Elizabeth Roman said. “Before she made her decision this year, she wanted to be a teacher then she found out the pay and then started looking into speech pathologist. From there, we learned about special needs.  She goes and helps the third grade and the second grade and they love her, but it was hard to make the decision intel I explained all the things she could do as a special aid teacher.  From then on, she has wanted to be a special aid teacher and I know she will be a good one.”