HARLINGEN — She’s got high hopes, she’s got high hopes …
That song has been a signature piece for generations of high achievers, but it rings just as true today for young ladies like 14-year-old Natalie Garcia.
“I’ve always had that mindset to do my best since I was young,” said Natalie, an eighth grader at Memorial Middle School.
“I have really, really high expectations,” she said. “I study a lot. You have to really listen in class.”
Those “high expectations” have kept her active in the Gifted and Talented program and also secured her a place on the principal’s honor roll for many years.
Perhaps this “can’t-stop-me” attitude along with a vibrant personality earned her a place at the Harlingen school board meeting Tuesday where she delivered the Pledge of Allegiance.
“It was really different,” she said. “I’d never done anything like that before.”
She may never have led a room full of board members and educators in the Pledge, but young Natalie seems to have made her own pledge to succeed at everything she does.
“I want to be a lawyer,” she said, explaining her plans to attend Rice University after high school.
She’s not sure what kind of law she’d like to practice. However, watching police dramas like Criminal Minds, CSI and Law and Order with her mother Melissa Baker and her stepfather have left an impression.
“I want to be somewhere in that field,” Natalie said. “We talk a lot about the characters.”
For the moment she’s been pleading — and winning — her case as an exemplary student. She’s competed in numerous UIL events including social studies and ready writing. She’s performed exceptionally well in prose and poetry.
“We have to give a performance,” she said. “You have to give hand gestures and facial expressions. I have always been dramatic. It came easy for me.”
Not a bad quality for someone planning to argue cases in a courtroom someday. But that’s not the only court in which she enjoys performing. She’s also an avid volleyball player. She first began playing in fifth grade with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen, which has a league.
“I love volleyball,” she said. “That’s what I want to pursue in high school.”
She looks forward to playing volleyball for Harlingen High School next year.
BIO
NAME: Natalie Yvette Garcia
AGE: 14
GRADE: 8
SCHOOL: Memorial Middle School
UIL: Prose and Poetry
Ready Writing
Social Studies
Maps, Graphs and Charts
SPORT: Top volleyball athlete at Memorial
OTHER: Maintained a place on the principal’s honor roll for many years
Active in Gifted and Talented program
President of the Memorial National Junior Honor Society
Secretary for “Raiders on the Move,” a student organization which focuses on community service
PARENTS: Melissa Baker
Gabriel Garcia
