By Jarlenys Chanci Florez
As part of a series, The Branford Buzz is asking teachers and students “Five Questions with…” to help the BHS community get to know one another and share ideas. This week’s feature is Salome Tinizaray. She is a senior at Branford high school. Born in Spain and living most of her childhood in Ecuador until the age of 15, her life took a turn and she had to move to the United States. Since her first day at BHS, she has shown hard work adapting to the new culture and the language. She also demonstrated her commitment by helping new students who arrive from other countries.
In your free time, what do you like to do?
“I like to sleep, like everyone else I imagine,” said Salomé between laughs, “I also like being outdoors, it’s something that relaxes me a lot, just as I enjoy spending time cooking,” Salome confessed to us that she is not very good at cooking yet; it is one of her favorite activities to be able to experiment and not have to follow strict rules and letting herself be carried away by her intuition is what she likes the most about it. “It is relaxing, although not always everything goes right the first time.”
What are your plans after graduation?
Salome told us that she is still thinking about her options for the future, “most likely I [will take] a year off to work and have time to rest after so much time at school. I plan to start college in 2024. I’m going to attend UCONN and get my major is in computer science.” What led her to pursue this specialization was the love she had for mathematics and also because the top thing in the world today is technology.
What will you miss the most about school?
“From school I will miss my friends the time during lunch that we all got together, I will also miss that you did not have so many responsibilities.” Salome also emphasized that she would miss the constant support she received from some of the teachers from the school.
Any advice for new students at BHS?
After taking a few minutes thinking about her answer, Salomé told us “I think the most important thing is to enjoy this time, learn to manage your time and get to know yourself, also learn to differentiate good friendships and not cut classes… I’m serious about the classes, the credit recovery process is ugly and you really don’t want to worry about it at the end of the year,” she said.
What do you think should be changed or improved about the school?
“I think I would have liked to have other food options during lunch, I also think the new attendance format is only an issue for students and considering that attendance affects your grade I feel like it’s something I could handle differently.” Salome also said a topic that she emphasized was the passes to the bathroom. “I understand the reason for this rule but the school should know that there are students who go to the bathroom for 40 minutes and the teachers don’t let anyone else out so as not to have problems with the administration, so sometimes in a room you have four people waiting for them to return with the pass.”
