T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Cuba native Alejandra Morales Fern‡ndez, center, talks to a classmate in English class about the dayÕs reading.

Even though the two countries are only 90 miles apart, Marshalltown High School senior and Cuba native Alejandra Morales Fernandez said the two are worlds apart.

She and some of her family moved from the Caribbean Island nation about two years ago, and came to Marshalltown about a year-and-a-half ago. Since then, Alejandra has worked to improve her English and seek a path to a career in singing or science.

“When I came here, I don’t know, it was so beautiful because it’s a little town,” she said of Marshalltown. “I feel like (I’m) in a movie.”

Alejandra’s life in Cuba was not easy. She had a kidney removed as a girl due to cancer; however, she looks back on her home country fondly.

“Now, I know that I was happy, and I didn’t know it. I miss my friends and I have my big brother in Cuba,” she said.

Education between the two nations is very different, too.

“In Cuba, always in the school the government told us that the United States is a big monster and they want to kill us,” Alejandra said. “My dad always told me ‘You always hear what you hear in school and you put it in a paper because they will give you a grade, but you don’t believe nothing, because they will tell you what they want.”

She said she plans to doggedly pursue a career as a singer and would like to move to Los Angeles after high school. She said she is also interested in studying to be a doctor.

“I want to be a doctor because I want to help children with the same health situation like me,” she said.

Alejandra was involved in choir last year, but has since had to fill up her schedule with academic classes.

“I’m doing my music outside of school,” she said.

Alejandra is also involved in Poetry Out Loud, Extended Learning Program and the World Food Prize at the high school.

MHS Project Lead the Way Biomedical Science instructor Erica Malloy said Alejandra has impressed her since she walked into the classroom.

“She’s bright and she’s got so many goals, and it’s really nice as a teacher to see that motivation,” Malloy said. “She just jumped right in and she landed in a district where we can provide her with these opportunities to teach her English and all of that upper-level stuff.”

Alejandra said the transition to Marshalltown was made a bit easier because of the number of Spanish speakers at the school. However, Cuban culture differs greatly from Mexican and Central American cultures, so she said she has had to adapt.

“It’s so hard to find Cuban food here,” she said. Alejandra said she also has to change some of the Spanish words she uses because they are not well-known among speakers of Mexican and Central American dialects.

She said her little brother is going to school at Woodbury Elementary, which has a dual-language program in English and Spanish.

No matter where the future takes her, Alejandra said she plans on making her life in the United States. She wants to go and visit Cuba to see friends and family, but is sure she will continue her American life.

“Maybe I will go (visit), but to leave, I think not. I will not let go of my opportunity,” she said.

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Contact Adam Sodders at

(641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com