Aliento Features: Citlali Fontes

My Name is Citlali Fontes. And I'm Proud to Be from a Mixed-Status Family.

I'm a senior at Mesa High School. I play soccer, advocate for my school, and serve as president of the Aliento Club. I'm also one of the first in my family to pursue higher education. That means everything to me.

My story starts with my grandfather. He was born in Mexico and migrated to the United States with God’s permission in the 1980s. He arrived not knowing English, without roots, without family here, only a dream of building something better for my grandmother, my uncle, and my mother, who eventually joined him. He came for a better life, and he built one, even when the US government didn't make it easy.

Today, he is a U.S. resident with more than 30 years of life in Arizona. From very little, he created a family, a foundation, and a future. He gave my mother and uncle the chance to pursue their own dreams. Throughout my life, he became my father figure, someone I could count on, someone I looked up to, someone I speak of with immense pride. He is a hardworking, proud Mexican man who came from nothing and became my mentor.

Over the past two years, I watched that world grow more frightening. I watched people I love become afraid to do ordinary things, go to work, drop their kids off at school, and exist in public. Raids tore families apart. Racial profiling became routine. I started to feel like my story didn't matter. Like I would never truly be seen.

Then, in my junior year, I heard about Education Day. Giselle, a past Aliento fellow, showed me what it looked like to walk into the Arizona State Capitol and tell your truth. When I shared my story for the first time, tears filled my eyes. I looked up and saw senators crying, too. For the first time in a long time, I felt seen.

That moment changed me.

When Giselle invited me to join Mini E-Days, I said yes. When she encouraged me to apply for the Arizona Future Fellowship, I took the chance. When I was accepted, I understood why I was there.

The fellowship gave me something my family never had access to, information. Resources. A roadmap. The kind of knowledge that can change the trajectory of a family, and that I now carry with me everywhere I go.

As a fellow, I hosted arts-and-healing workshops, met Governor Katie Hobbs, led Education Day meetings, and helped students share their own stories, students who look like me, who carry what I carry, who needed someone to show them it was safe to speak.

I show up for the people who can't. I speak for the ones who won't be heard.

That is why I am here.