Senior Kelin Paraza-Argueta has an inspiring story of taking risks, overcoming obstacles and inspiring others.

Paraza-Argueta is a first-generation US citizen. Her mother moved to the United States from El Salvador at the same time she was pregnant with Paraza-Argueta and was forced to leave behind her two older children. Kelin has two older siblings and two younger siblings.

“I’ve been the first to go do everything in the United States, and that hasn’t always been easy,” Paraza-Argueta said. “There are many language barriers, and the cultural differences weren’t easy to navigate.”

Her first language is Spanish, and she began learning English around Kindergarten.

“I remember just watching English cartoons when I was in Kindergarten, and so that’s kind of how I figured it out,” Paraza-Argueta said.

At NC, Paraza-Argueta is one of the co-presidents of the Hispanic Honors Society (HHS). This position entails running meetings and finding activities for which students can volunteer.

Last year, she earned the role of vice president and gained critical organizational and planning skills.

“I learned a lot of valuable skills like how to organize, how to work with people and what goes into planning big events and fundraisers,” Paraza-Argueta said.

This year, to expand HHS’s impact, Paraza-Argueta has been working outside of school to coordinate events with external organizations in the larger Indianapolis community.

“One of the biggest things that I noticed was that we knew we were supposed to be serving the community, but I didn’t notice us out in the Indianapolis community,” Paraza-Argueta said. “We used to be confined to North Central and Washington Township, so we needed to expand our outreach.”

Thanks to her help, HHS is now involved in the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance program and the Hispanic Cultural Club.

Spanish teacher Erin Lizer, who sponsors HHS, has been a big motivator for Paraza-Argueta and has watched her expand her leadership skills in the past two years.

“She’s extremely proud of her heritage,” Lizer said. “The effort, work and dedication that she shows in everything that she does, not just school work but all of the external volunteering and everything that she does, is hugely apparent.”

All of her hard work pays off and inspires others.

“She is an amazing role model, especially for the female Latina and Hispanic community. She is largely involved in organizations like the Amor Movement,” Lizer said.

The Amor Movement is a relatively new nonprofit organization that brings out leadership qualities among young Latinas.

“Oftentimes Latinas do not put themselves out there,” Paraza-Argueta said. “Since many of them are first generation, they don’t know how to navigate mental health or professional things because nobody can help with that. We don’t have anybody like a parent telling us how to navigate different sectors. The Amor Movement helps with that.”

Currently, Amor Movement is working on providing bilingual Spanish books to children at Riley Children’s Hospital.

“Sometimes it’s tough to get that help when people don’t look like you and don’t speak the same language that you do, so that’s why we kind of want to donate those books,” Paraza-Argueta said.

The goal is for children to flip through the book’s pages and feel more comfortable with their identities.

“They’ll flip those pages and see themselves in those books; they’ll see stuff that represents them, looks like them and shows their culture. That helps them by not feeling alienated and weird in those spaces.”

Paraza-Argueta has been part of the Amor Movement for over a year now. Her mentor and founder, Monica Casillas, has worked with her ever since.

“Kelin joined during the pilot phase and played a key role in shaping the program’s foundation,” Casillas said. “Her leadership was instrumental in restructuring and organizing both the curriculum and initiative for Cohort 2, helping us create a more impactful and intentional experience for our young leaders.”

While Paraza-Argueta played a significant role in developing Cohort 2, she credits Camilla with much of her success.

“She taught me everything I know,” Paraza-Argueta said. “She helped me get out of my shell; she gave me different opportunities. She taught me so much about professional development and getting my foot through the door because it’s difficult to do when you don’t know anything.”

Paraza-Argueta has grown into a brave woman as she learned to come out of her shell and fight for what she believes in.

“I gained a lot of confidence from Monica as well,” Paraza-Argueta said. “She showed me that Latinos deserve to be in different spaces. She’s taught me everything I’ve known and showed me that I have the power to command a space if I choose to.”

Paraza-Argueta used to be shy and scared of public speaking but has overcome some of her fears and been able to use her voice to speak out against injustice.

Recently, she has been working extensively with the Indiana Latino Democratic Caucus to get more politically involved and testify against discriminatory bills.

“This year, she has been incredibly active in speaking out against some of the bills that are being proposed and or have unfortunately been passed by our government here in Indiana,” Lizer said. “She’s gone down to the state house and spoken to many legislators, given her own background and reasoning for why things should or should not be passed.”

Unfortunately, this has not always been an enjoyable and positive experience for Paraza-Argueta.

“I was shocked the first time I went in there because they were rude,” Paraza-Argueta said. “They don’t care about what you have to say. Many were on their phones, scrolling on TikTok, and then some people were about to start laughing when I was sharing my story.”

Although difficult, she built the courage to stay strong and keep going.
“I wanted to start crying before I went in there because I didn’t think I was ready for that, but I sucked it up, and I went in there, and I spoke, which was scary, but I’m glad I did it,” Paraza-Argueta said.

Paraza-Argueta used to be extremely scared of public speaking and didn’t realize she wanted to be a leader until she joined the Avid program.

“At first, I didn’t really care about being a leader, but then we spent a whole year learning, and honestly, it made me realize that I like being a leader,” Paraza-Argueta said. “I like being in charge. I spent all my junior and senior years developing my leadership, and now I feel like I’ve come out of my shell so much.”

Lynda McQuiston, Paraza-Argueta’s Avid advisor, has been a significant source of motivation for her throughout high school.

“She believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and when I didn’t think I was capable of anything,” Paraza-Argueta said. “She’s gotten to see me grow since ninth grade, and she’s gotten to invoke that leadership in me, too, so I appreciate that.”

Avid is mainly a course that helps students prepare for college. Students spend their first year learning who they are and how to handle certain situations. In their sophomore year, they focus on leadership.

In junior year, Paraza-Argueta didn’t have Avid with McQuiston. Still, in senior year, she has been working on her college applications and getting more scholarship opportunities.

“It was nice to have a community in Avid where we all worked and grew together,” Paraza-Argueta said. “it’s just really nice to see how we’ve gone from this small and how we’re really about to take the next steps.”

Applying to college and getting scholarships is a big step for Paraza-Argueta because she is the first in her family ever to attend college, making her story even more impressive.

“My mom did not attend college,” Paraza-Argueta said. “I think my family’s highest level of education was probably sixth grade. I’m the first in my family to complete all elementary, middle, and high school and attend college.”

Paraza-Argueta uses her family’s story to motivate her.

“I want to accomplish something because my family came from nothing. It’s such a big accomplishment that I graduated high school as the first person to do so in my family. So my family is at the center of my heart.”

Paraza-Argueta applied to various schools, including IU Bloomington, IU Indianapolis, Butler, Ball State, Loyola and others near Cincinnati. She was awarded admission to every school she applied to, but ultimately decided to attend IU Indianapolis after receiving a full-ride scholarship.

“She won a full-ride scholarship to IU School of Philanthropy for philanthropic leadership and plans on going and studying how to be the head of a nonprofit to help raise money for organizations that need it,” Lizer said.

After college, Paraza-Argueta dreams of continuing her activism by starting a nonprofit of her own.

“I eventually want to establish my own nonprofit, and I specifically want to target the Latino community because I feel like there’s a lot of potential in there that isn’t used because we don’t know how,” Paraza-Argueta said.

Although none of her family members are involved in activism due to the potential risk factor, their resilience gives her a reason to go out and fight for their rights.

“I want to be able to accomplish something because we came from nothing, and I firmly believe that you’re not going to get anything done by sitting on your couch and putting something on Instagram,” Paraza-Argueta said. “You have to be out there, grassroots, in the community fighting for what you believe in.”

Paraza-Argueta’s dedication to her community and family has inspired her to keep going and fighting.