The Story of Brayan and Coach Bravo

Brayan running in Long Beach.

Coach Bravo has been a long time coach of Students Run LA at Carson High School. He has coached many students throughout the years, but this year he was particularly moved by the story of one student, Brayan. Brayan is a student at Carson’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program.

In this week’s blog Coach Bravo shares Brayan’s story, in his own words…

I met Brayan last year when he approached me and was curious about SRLA. Brayan caught my attention because he’s a student in Carson High School’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) program. Brayan decided he wanted to join a club or organization this year.  He was intrigued with SRLA because two former DHH students had previously participated in our SRLA program at Carson HS. When Brayan decided to join SRLA, I wondered how I would effectively communicate with him.

“When Brayan decided to join SRLA, I wondered how I would effectively communicate with him. ”

Brayan at SRLA Practice at Carson High School.

Fortunately our DHH program has interpreters that offer support. Ms. Rachel helps interpret in American Sign Language, so Brayan has fully integrated into the program. In addition, Oscar, a Carson HS and SRLA Alumni, is running with our group this year and serving as an additional interpreter. We want to help and support Brayan as best as we can.  Thank you Paul Trapani for being so accommodating and understanding.

Brayan really enjoys being a member of our SRLA team.  He really enjoys running and really likes our team's dynamic warm ups. Brayan says the most challenging part of being in SRLA thus far has been running and training in hills. Brayan says he has many goals in SRLA, but the main goal is to get better at running.

Brayan really enjoyed running the Homeboy 5k and the SRLA Strength 10k. He had lots of fun being in a race with other students. He really enjoyed seeing the Mariachi and the snacks were pretty good too! Besides getting better at running, Brayan has also gotten to know fellow DHH student, Josue, better and has made new friends on the team as well.

I look forward to seeing Brayan’s progress and enthusiasm in our SRLA program. I’m very happy that Brayan chose to run with SRLA this year and look forward to watching him cross the finish line of the 2023 LA Marathon.

YOU CAN KEEP STUDENTS LIKE BRAYAN IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN

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