Senior at the Arts and Business High School
East Elmhurst
JOB: Valiente, 17, tutors an eight-year-old boy after school. Valiente also works as an intern at GTC, an import and export toy and jewelry company owned by her mother.
FAMILY FACT: Valiente lives with her mother, Jackie, older brother Frank.
CAREER GOAL: She plans to become an accountant and open a small business.
FAVORITE MEMORY: Valiente said she most enjoys participating in business projects in school. Within her Virtual Enterprise (VE) class in school, Valiente serves as the CEO
of a student-created company called Film Com that sells DVDs. The company is entirely virtual, and students must buy and sell merchandise with other VE companies. “The class is pretty much run exactly how a business would be run,” she said.
PROUDEST MOMENT: Valiente endured an outdoor adventure program last year, of which she is particularly proud. The program, run by Outward Bound, spanned a week and included camping, hiking, and other physically enduring activities. “It was very tough,” she said.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: As a senior in high school, balancing school, work, and college applications, Valiente said her biggest challenge is finding time for all her interests.
INSPIRATION: Valiente said that her mother is her biggest inspiration “because she is the one who got me into business.”
COLLEGE PLANS: Valiente must wait until March to hear back from the colleges where she applied. She hopes to attend Boston University, the University of Pennsylvania or Penn State.
