Jessica Gonzalez, Jersey City, New Jersey

I came to this country when I was about three years old from Quito, Ecuador, with my younger sister and my mother and father. Coming here was not easy for anyone. My parents came to America with two little girls and with only a small amount of money.

	TIME Cover Story Being Thirteen What's on their minds? TIME takes an inside look at an age of mystery and challenge Thirteens on Thirteen Thirteen-year olds share their reflections Marissa Anderson Ariel DeNeve Jeffrey Dirkin Calvin Streit Haya Rios Jessica Gonzalez Duresny Nemorin Armaan Rowther Rose Buchberg Katherine Rack Joseph Charles Brandon Close Briana Katz

When I was five my family and I visited Quito. I was very surprised with how much of a difference there was between Ecuador and New Jersey. I was used to seeing building and skyscrapers, but over there, there were just small houses. I had already learned English and spoke it more than Spanish. I was already Americanized and I was used to being in my home and nowhere else. To me it seemed as if I was a stranger to the Spanish culture.

There were many reasons why my parents chose to come live in America. They believed that America would be a better place to raise children. My mother believed that if my sister and I were raised here, we would get better opportunities and have a chance at a better future. If I were thirteen and still living in Ecuador my life would probably be so much different than it is now. I wouldn't speak two languages, because I never would have learned English. I don't think I would be where I am now and I don't think I would have received the same educational value as I have received here. It just seems so surreal thinking about how it would be to be raised in Ecuador and especially being a teenager there.

Being a teenager in America is very different but then again similar to being a teenager in Ecuador. I think that being thirteen in America is very difficult. A thirteen year old now has to deal with many forms of peer pressure. The pressure to be liked, the pressure to get good grades and there is the pressure to be a good person and make the right choices. Most people say that thirteen is a tough age, because that's when your body starts to take on changes and the worst problem of all occurs—acne. Teenagers have to keep up with the latest technology. Whether its cell phones or video games, technology has been evolving at a rapid pace, making it hard for the average teen to have latest piece of technology. Being a teenager now in my opinion is the hardest of all time periods to be one. Temptation is everywhere and almost everything around us influences us to be someone we're not.

I have been fortunate to be raised in America. Even though it's difficult sometimes to grow up in such an influenced society I still believe that I am more than lucky to have grown up in this country. I thank my parents for bringing me here to America and I consider my parents' decision to come here the best they could have possibly made.