'Dream big, work hard': high school, fruit picking and family separations
276Ashley Solis is a Mexican American teenager, farmworker and factory worker who dreams of being the first in her family to graduate from high school and go to college. Her mother is undocumented, and like many families with mixed documented status, they face the threat of family separation. With responsibility for earning enough to look after her sisters, Ashley balances working nights in a California strawberry-freezing factory with her school attendance. She struggles to get enough sleep and to get her homework done. As her school threatens to punish her for missed classes, Ashley wonders what its slogan – "dream big, work hard" – means for someone in her position.
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