A strong person steps into Agua Fria high school, full of energy with an optimistic mind, Jaileen Flores takes that title. As much as life can ever throw at her she knows she’s the best person she can be, a friend to everyone and not afraid to show the world her face and turn heads in her direction. Jaileen is the person everyone is looking at. 

Her life has been everything she could ever imagine, stepping into the real world to be the first in her family to attend college she makes everyone proud. A 18 year-old senior born on March 2nd, the month of the Pieces, she brings a strong positive energy to everyone around her. 

Passionate is the perfect word to describe her, she has a different point of view from everyone around her. Most people have regrets in life, things that they wish they could go back to and change, but Jaileen thinks of it differently, she says that “ I have no regrets, everything I have done has made me the person I am today.” She was always that cheerful little girl that did everything she was told and in a way that helped her surround herself with people that helped her grow, and saw herself mature in that environment. Growing up as a Latina its taught her that your own decision matters, even if sometimes it seems like it’s never enough for both sides, being an American whose first language was Spanish, put her in classes to help. Though that didn’t stop her only grew her roots of where she came from. 

High school brought out the best in her and when Jaileen came forward, she realized that her spark was history, learning about the past and what happened to bring us where we are today is a journey she has passion to learn about. The holocaust, also known as Shoah, is one of her biggest interests. With that she’s always wanted to travel to different museums to see the stuff left from it and understand what happened back then that brought us to our place today. Not only does Jaileen take interest in school subjects and academic learning but she takes interest in wrestling. That’s right!!! Jaileen is in the girls wrestling team here, and after speaking with Coach Higuera here at Agua Fria, we come to learn more about Jaileen’s story.

“You have helped me grow not only as a coach, mentor, educator but as a human being.” Coach Higuera said as he describes Jaileen’s journey, as he takes his time appreciating her work towards other people he continues to tell us how he saw right through her and discovered the unique girl she is. “ There’s this quote that I know” Jaileen said, “ Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy “ (Dan Gable).  Everyone describes Jaileen as “ she is truly a sweetheart , she’s got a gritty mindset, a successful young woman” says Mrs. Mauritz. After all, Coach Higuera was right when he talked about how Jaileen really wants to get to understand and know the “ why of things” whether it was to get out of reps, or less work, she always asked questions to believe she understood every word of it. 

Winning 17-6 senior year record and being in the girls wrestling team that is the first in Agua Fria to ever be the champions of 2023 AIA Division 1 section 5 tournament. Jaileen became proud of her doings and realized everything she had gone through brought her to the position she is now, went from working after school in the weight room when it was 100 degrees outside, to now graduating and now giving advice to future freshman and talking about her favorite childhood memories all so it can be recorded somewhere and have her realize this it the journey she took, and it was the right decision. Her family being the most important thing to her really pulls everything together, her mother stepping forward into the world to give her and her two siblings the best life possible is a heartwarming step, her and her brother watching the whole fast and furious franchise is a symbolization of her childhood.

Went through many steps finding herself to be proud of who she is. Finding the right people to hangout with, to make long lasting friendships, from dreaming about attending GateWay community college to graduating high school and applying, from dreaming about living in Oregon for the four seasons, to being halfway there. “You will take the lessons and inner strengths that you have discovered about yourself now and show the world that Jaileen Flores, the little girl from Parker Arizona, has some great things to contribute to whatever career/profession you complete.” Mr. Higuera’s message to Jaileen stands still, and her journey continues forever on.