Meet Nathaniel Palomo
Grade: Junior
Tenure: 2 Years
Favorite Program: Soundlab
career aspirations: Structural Steel Welding
About me
My name is Nathaniel Palomo, I am 16 years old, and I was born in El Salvador. I am currently living in Carpentersville and I have 3 brothers: one little brother and two older brothers. I enjoy the outdoors and I like to be active as much as I can. For example, I love to play for the Dundee-Crown soccer team and the track-and-field team. I enjoy staying in shape and working out daily. Spotify, Snapchat, Youtube and Tiktok are the most used apps on my phone. After I finish school next December I am going to want to just work for five months and then start applying to colleges or trade schools so that I can become a Structural Steel Welder. At the moment, I am doing track and field. I plan on working a lot over the summer to save up for a car. Otherwise I will be at home with my family eating, laughing and relaxing together.
" The Club has shown many ways for me to be talented on multiple things for me to have multiple career choices."
UPCOMING EVENTS
Learn More About Me
Who I Am
I like to work hard and be dedicated to finishing something and to never give up on whatever it is I want to accomplish. There are times that I procrastinate and just become lazy to do some work. But I am thankful for my dad because when he sees those things happening he puts my mind back on track and helps me to push myself. My mom is always supportive whenever I become discouraged so I am thankful for having her in my corner. I like to explore new things and I like to talk to a lot of people and get their perspective and advice for life so that I can apply it to myself or have the knowledge to help others. The things that motivate me are my family and sports. At first I would be motivated by my parents to work hard in school and it had worked for awhile, but I would still procrastinate and become even more lazy and find many excuses to not do work. I had lost my way of being a hard worker. But then something just clicked with me over night and I flipped the switch. I was tired of being called lazy. I was tired of people closest to me doubting me that I can't be successful in life. So it motivated me to prove them wrong and prove that I can be successful. I didn't really know what kind of career I wanted to have growing up, I kind of just played sports and did well in school without thinking about my future. I would help my dad fix his truck and he would teach me a couple of things about cars. It was interesting so then I was thinking about being a mechanic. But then later on while I was 14 years old my uncle would start telling me what it was like being a Structural Steel Welder. I was so fascinated and became very interested and my uncle had also shown the process and it caught my attention and finally gave me another reason to be motivated to get the career that I have been seeking for. My hope is to win this year's Youth of the year and get the full ride and take the classes required to become a welder or go to a trade school.
My experience at the Boys and Girls club has been really good. I used to live in Carpentersville before when I was younger, I went to Perry elementary school when I was in 1st grade and my parents had signed me up to stay after school for the Boys and Girls club. It was very fun for me as a younger child. Many years later when I moved back to Carpentersville after I finished my freshman year I wanted to do something over the summer and my dad found the impact summer. We did many activities and I made a lot of new friends and became very well known by all of the staff members. Even during the school year I go to the Impact center and I mostly enjoy the Sound Lab. What we do is we make a podcast and we come up with a topic and basically just have a conversation about. What I enjoy the most about it is that I get to learn how others think and how they think about certain things and I even like to either argue about the topic with someone or have a debate about it. For me it just makes it more fun and it's a back and forth thing therefore everyone can join in on the conversation. The Club has shown many ways for me to be talented on multiple things for me to have multiple career choices. Not only that but I talk to the staff about certain things and I get advice from them to help me out if I ever feel low or that I can't do something. The club is a place that I could consider a 2nd home because I get along with people and we all laugh, relax, and eat and we all act like a family to each other. It has helped me to be more patient and more open minded about my options in life.
My Club Experience
A Cause I Believe In
I believe that everyone should be respected regardless of their actions they have done in the past or present. Respect is something that comes alone with patience and looking at things from a bigger standpoint and being mature. I have seen so many kids being disrespectful to their peers or even those who are older than me and I sometimes have to get their attention and have them realize that fun and games are not 24/7 and at times that their attention is needed. Some of the staff at the Club have seen that I have tried to get the others to pay attention to and respect what the staff are trying to say. They have seen how mature I have grown, for me respect is a huge thing in my life and is very well needed if you want things to go well.