Jack Deneal A. Carlos (11) is a current Junior at Santiago High. He started his Junior Year 2 months into the school year having moved into the United States from the Philippines. Being born and raised in the Philippines, Jack was exposed to the world of Student-Journalism at a young age. In his 5th grade, he joined a Filipino Literature and Journalism club where he learned to write basic news and feature articles in his mother language, Filipino. In that same year he took part in a daily intensive training to represent his school in an inter-school journalism competition competing under the Filipino Feature Writing category where he failed to clinch a spot in the Top 10 during the awarding ceremonies. A year later, he competed in the same inter-school Journalism competition under the same category where he successfully landed in first place with his feature article entitled “Lumaya ka” (Be free). The article, written in Filipino, spoke of freedom from fear, from judgement, and from the things that hold us back. His Top 1 placement earned him the right to represent the Division in the Regional Journalism Competition. Jack takes fondness in learning about history and interpreting literature. A week into his stay in Santiago, he already took quite an interest in his US History and Language Arts class. Facing a crossroad, his academic ambitions become unclear with constant internal debate whether or not to pursue the Medical Field. His Filipino religious and conservative background instilled in him essential values to thrive in life which includes hard work, resiliency, and empathy. He believes that it is his roots and authenticity that will bring him to great heights in life.