Clara Ramirez

PROFILE: Clara Ramirez wants to be a doctor and she can tell you the time and the place when she decided. She was ten-years-old and her family had just moved to a small city in northeastern Texas from Mexico. On that memorable day, Clara’s parents brought her to a local pediatric clinic. It’s not a totally pleasant memory for Clara as she recalled the difficulty her mother had communicating with the staff at the clinic. “My mother couldn’t communicate with the doctor and my dad with his broken English did as much as he could,” but many questions and health concerns went unanswered. “The event inspired me to become a bilingual pediatrician,” said Clara, who graduated with honors in 2010 from Northeast Texas Community College. Shortly after the incident at the clinic, Clara enrolled in the local public school and immediately showed her ability, drive and enthusiasm for learning. She likes to tell one story about adapting to her new culture. In the fall of 2004, when she began high school she first heard the term “GPA” for Grade Point Average. “I was unaware of what a GPA is, after all I was going to be the first person in my family to obtain a high school diploma,” she said. Fast forward four years later and Clara graduated with the highest GPA in her high school and was valedictorian. 

INSPIRATION: Clara was just beginning a new school in a new city in a new country. In the 5^th Grade, she met her ESL teacher, Mrs. Janet Bowers, and Clara made a friend for life. “She believed in me even when I didn't speak a single word of English and gave me special after school lessons so that I wouldn't get behind in school. Mrs. Bowers told me that the fact that I didn't speak any English did not mean that I wasn't smart, it just meant that I had to try a little bit harder.”

ASPIRATION: Clara’s on her way to becoming a pediatrician.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE:   Clara is a devoted parishioner at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in her adopted hometown of Mt. Pleasant, Texas. During the Christmas season she organized and costumed the church’s Nativity play. She was also a valued volunteer at the local public library.

ACCOLADES: Clara was named a 2010 Coca-Cola Gold Scholar and received the Northeast Texas Community College President’s Academic Excellence Award, as well as the C.M. and Cora Caldwell Memorial Award.

INTERESTING FACT: We all have a “bucket list” - things we want to do before we die. On the top of Clara’s list is to visit China. The only problem? She doesn’t like Chinese food.