Mariluz Pérez González, an eleventh-grade student at the Calixto García Urban Pre-university Institute

Pre-university students have also been brave in these times of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have talked with more than one and the longing for friends, along with the long hours at home, right at this age when all life is a discovery, have marked them, and not always for the better.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Mariluz Pérez González, an eleventh-grade student at the Calixto García Urban Pre-university Institute (IPU), in the municipality of Puerto Padre, told me about this, and through the facemask, I inferred her wide smile, the greatest possible proof of happiness and triumph.

“It has been a difficult year and we have helped where possible; I can assure you that if we have not done more, it is because we are minor and we are not allowed many things to protect ourselves. And not only in Puerto Padre, but we also talk with youngsters our age, in other parts, and they want to do more things, although what we have to do is stay home and be disciplined."

Mariluz is the president of the Federation of Middle School Students (FEEM) in that municipality, north of Las Tunas; she wants to be a doctor, like many others in these times.

“We have to be where the country needs us. We are around 2,662 pre-university students in the municipality, grouped in eight centers. And many of us, before the school year began, joined the active inquiries; I know of some who have gone to volunteer work in areas less affected by the pandemic, with a lot of energy; and we are also aware, and very happy, of the results with which the school year is closing in some centers because that is the result of the efforts of the teachers and the students.

“In the countryside, journalist, you study under very harsh conditions, and some students, who live far from their schools, sacrifice the most; that's why the victories are very important.”