Karyme Avalos Silis

Senior Spotlight: Pioneer Academy’s Karyme Avalos Silis Finds Confidence
Posted on 10/14/2022
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If you came to visit Pioneer Academy, you might be greeted by a student office aid whose welcoming spirit is as genuine as they come. As an office aid, Senior Karyme Avalos Silis, has helped the office staff and greeting people for the last two school years. And although you can sense a bit of shyness when you first meet Karyme, her warm attitude and infectious smile soon let you know there is a smart and confident young person eager to assist.

Karyme has not always had the confidence she says she has today. In fact, for this proud Latina, she said she lacked confidence most of her years growing up. She remembers during elementary and middle school she was too shy to ask questions in class. She is unsure of why she didn’t feel confident, but she was certain that her lack of confidence prevented her from trying new things and being more successful. When asked what she attributed to helping her become more confident Karyme said “the people who supported me to try something difficult and who believed I could do it well. My mother held high expectations of me, and let me know I can do it.” Karyme also credits her teachers at Pioneer Academy with challenging her to take on more difficult classes and projects. She also recognized that the smaller campus size and smaller class size gave her more opportunity to feel comfortable to ask questions in the classroom. Karyme said she could feel her confidence grow while attending classes at Pioneer and that gave her courage to continue to try new things.

Today Karyme is a Jumpstart student taking the majority of her classes at Western Nevada College. She plans to continue studies at WNC next fall and transfer to a university to major in nursing or social work. Eventually she hopes to be able to work with children because she loves their openness and their sense of humor. Along with her busy school schedule, Karyme is very active with her dance group. In the past she generally danced in the ensemble.  Now, with her growing confidence and encouragement from her family and friends, she is perfecting her dance skills as a soloist.

The teachers and staff at Pioneer are excited to see what the future holds for Karyme.

Written by Cary Jordan, Pioneer Academy school counselor.