Anahi Solis is a 17-year-old senior at South Broward High School who is a passionate writer and has a knack for art. She started her artistic journey in middle school when she joined her film class. Although before she pursued her interest in the arts she wasn’t that strong of a writer due to her hispanic culture.
“It took me until fourth grade to fully grasp the concept of literature as writing in English wasn’t my strongest suit. After fourth grade I found myself emerging in complicated literature and art. So, when high school started I was intrigued by the new forms of books I could read without feeling left out because of my background,” said Solis.
Being raised in Hialeah, Florida was no easy task for Solis coming from a hispanic background. Being part of a low income family it was always hard to afford books at times for school. When Solis was around 7 years-old she checked out one of her many favorite R.L Stine books, Goosebumps Vampire Breath.
“I remember vividly how frightening my upperclassmen told me the book was, they said because I was much younger than them that the book was too complicated for me to understand and at the time I believed them a bit. It wasn’t until I asked my librarian if I was allowed to check out the fifth grade section books that I really got in deep with literature. That same night I had my dad read the book to me and I wasn’t as frightened as people expected me to be,” she said.
At the age of 16 Solis started her home reading journey. She would usually spend her time just reading or jotting down ideas for her own book ideas. She found herself deep in any book she purchased from classic literature to comedy stories. When Solis isn’t at home reading she’d spend her time enjoying other hobbies, like painting and hanging out with friends.
“My first ever store bought book was Alice in wonderland by Lewis Carrol it was definitely a tongue twister, but I found myself to deeply appreciate the protagonist which was a 12 year old Alice who was seemingly lost in this crazy world, late on you can find deep triggering underlying messages of schizophrenia and mentions of drugs and I find small messages like that so fascinating about books,’ said Solis.
Now Solis is the Vice-president of the Journalism & Yearbook club. After being introduced by her now-president friend Anabella Hernandez they both work together as a team to help support and inspire others to join the club. The club aspires her to appreciate the different view points of others and works to display everyone’s unique creativity.
“If it wasn’t for Anabella I wouldn’t have even thought about joining the club, I didn’t think it was that important at the time to display my capabilities in writing but now I’m grateful I got the opportunity to take my writing to the next level,” she said.
Solis believes that if something doesn’t usually go the way you want it or takes too long, it was meant to be. She had to just keep going on.
“If life starts too tough, it just means your future will get easier,” said Solis.
