Yuridya De La Cruz is a 14-year-old freshmen at SBHS. Most people she’s met find it difficult to pronounce her name, so her close friends gave her Juju as a nickname. She said she had got that nickname from her little nieces.

“My nieces had started calling me Juju because in Spanish the pronunciation of my name starts with the sound J,” said De La Cruz.

De La Cruz had lived in Hollywood, Florida, most of her life. She would move around a lot and never stay in one place, at one point. In her life, she moved to Mississippi, then moved to Davie, Florida, where she spent the rest of her childhood.

She loved to be around children and found comfort in making them smile while in stressful or sad situations. De la Cruz found something she would love to do; she wants to be around kids and make them happy and joyful. When she found out there were classes in high school that could make her dream happen, she didn’t hesitate to take those classes.

“My siblings had too many children, so my mom had to raise them since my mom always had the kids around. I learned how to take care of kids as well; my life revolved around children, and I want to keep it that way,’’ de la Cruz said.

Her dream is to be a daycare owner or a child phycologist; she wants to be someone who kids could look up to.