Meeting a famed leader might leave many children speechless, but it left Lianet Vazquez with an opportunity to improve her city.
In Lianet's native town of Plaza de La Revolucion, Cuba, a hospital project sat unfinished. With no hospital, the townspeople had to travel a great distance to get treatment.
"The expense inhibited us from getting high-level medical attention," she said after a recent awards luncheon.
Lianet sought to correct the situation when she and a group of other students met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro. She asked why the hospital had not been completed.
"He said, 'I thought they were building it,' " Lianet recalled. "He called in a couple of officials, gave a few orders, and the next day they were building it.
"I couldn't believe it. When we met with him, it was like 2 in the morning, and the next day, at 8 in the morning, they were working on it."
This was the Castro she knew, a man of action. She was part of an oratorical student group taught to write speeches about the greatness of Castro and communism. She had "the honor" of meeting Castro more than once.
"To us, he was revered like an idol," Lianet said.
The indoctrination didn't stop there. In her mind, the United States consisted only of monsters. It was a place that tried to separate Elian Gonzalez from his father. She once participated in a four-hour protest march outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana.
All that changed when she came to the United States in March 2006. Seeking a better life, her father moved her and her family, first to Chile and then to Tampa. In three months, Lianet learned English through a special course at Chamberlain High, and then enrolled in honors-level courses.
She has earned all A's in those honors classes and in every advance placement class she has taken. She also learned that the United States is far different from what she was taught all those years in Cuba.
"At first, I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want anyone to know about it," Lianet said. "But in my AP English classes, we had group discussions, and I heard a lot of political viewpoints. It was total enlightenment."
Her near-seamless transition to a new country, a new school and a new set of beliefs made her one of 10 high school juniors honored by the Athena Society, a prestigious group of professional women leaders who have chosen Young Women of Promise since 1981. The society invites recipients to join Young Women of Achievement, which provides an educational and networking forum as they progress in their education and careers.
Eight of this year's 10 winners either live or attend school in the North of Tampa area. Each winner gave brief speeches about their greatest achievements at the April 3 luncheon, and each presentation awed the group, which included Mayor Pam Iorio, former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Katherine Essrig, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Scriven and pediatrician Sylvia Richardson, who led the selection committee.
Yashobha Ranaweera, a Freedom High junior who ranks first in her class of 502, described how she taught herself to read English in third grade after moving here from Sri Lanka. Using Sesame Street books designed for preschoolers, Yashobha adapted to a new life while enduring teasing from classmates.
She eventually reached grade level but pushed herself to go further.
"It's all in my attitude," she said. "My parents always taught me that when you're doing something you think is good, go above that."
Today, she not only is an honors student, but she collected money to purchase school supplies for children affected by the 2004 tsunami, and provides support every summer to the children affected by the disaster.
Iorio closed out the luncheon with words of inspiration, telling the audience about Fanny Lou Hamer, a black Mississippi sharecropper with no formal education who rose to become one of the most influential voices of the civil rights movement.
But Iorio conceded that these girls needed no real motivation or direction.
"I really feel the world is in good hands with all of you," she said, beaming.
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