Positive role models

Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER

When it comes to role models, two UTRGV students say they don’t have to look far.

Translation and interpretation senior Javier Flores Jr. said his parents, Javier and Marina Flores,  instilled the virtue of hard work in him.

“She started going to college in Matamoros,” Flores said about his mother. “She became a teacher, and my dad would work long hours, like, the whole week. So, they taught me that hard work makes a great person.”

He said his parents have inspired and enabled him to achieve his dream of writing the novel, “Memorias de Noviembre,” which was independently published in 2020 and is available on amazon.com.

“Memorias de Noviembre” is a romance novel set in Brownsville where a “stranger helps the protagonist kill the demons of his past.”

“I recently published my first novel, and I would tell my mom to read it,” Flores said. “I would tell both of them, like, ‘How do I find a publisher?’ and all these things and they would help me out. … They do support me, my decisions and they care a lot for me.” 

He also recognized that, while his parents have had a positive impact on his life, there are areas where they could improve. 

“I think they have a lot of things they should learn, or they are learning,” Perez said. “It is not like I’m going to judge because they made mistakes.” 

Political science junior Alec Carrillo said his mother, LeeAnn Carrillo, has had a positive influence on his life as well. 

“I noticed the impact she had in my life, one year, when we had almost lost her when she got sick,” Carrillo said. “I realized I should have been more sensitive with her and realized that she did do a lot for me. Because at that moment, when you notice that someone’s on the deathbed, you’re like, ‘Dang, they did a lot for me.’” 

He said his mom has helped him understand and talk to people despite being in different situations.

“I don’t think I’d be as empathetic or sympathetic with people as I am,” Carrillo said. “I wouldn’t be as creative as I am. You know, like, I felt my mom’s the one that’s really been, like, ‘Oh, we’ll break the barriers.”

He believes his mom’s independence has made her an influential role model in his life.

“I think the fact that she’s the type of person that never asked anybody for anything,” Carillo said. “The times I have seen her go through hardships, she doesn’t expect anybody to be by her side. … She’s, like, an independent woman.” 

He said society could learn a valuable lesson from his mother.

“She listens to people,” Carrillo said. “It doesn’t mean that she’s in [agreement] with them, and it doesn’t mean she will disagree with them, but she sits down and listens to what they have to say. I feel like that’s what people have to do more.”