FRANKFORT -
The Frankfort High School senior stuck in Mexico over a visa issue not only made it home for graduation, she delivered the salutatorian speech to her fellow classmates.
"Pomp and Circumstance" is the soundtrack of graduation, but it's a tune Elizabeth Olivas almost didn't hear.
"I honestly felt like I was in a dream and knowing that everyone was supporting me and knowing that everyone was happy that I was there just made my day even better" said Olivas.
She barely made it back to the U.S. from Mexico after a visa dispute that threatened to keep her across the boarder for three years.
She has lived in Frankfort since she was four-years-old, but had to return to Mexico to get a green card when she turned eighteen.
Olivas missed the deadline by a day, which temporarily held up her visa application.
Her case received national attention, and with the help of Senator Lugar's office, an emergency waiver was issued granting her a visa on time.
Early Friday morning, the day before graduation, Olivas landed in Indianapolis.
While the stand out student and athlete made it home for graduation, her time in Mexico robbed her of most senior memories.
"I would say to myself wow today I had a track meet, wow tonight was prom, tonight was senior honors night. It was frustrating to know that I wasn't there but I was keeping my hopes up that I at least didn't get the chance to graduate taken away from me and I am here."
Confident and poised, the honors student reflected on the most trying period of her young life by emphasizing her hopes and dreams are no different than anyone else's.
"I just want to be considered somebody normal. Somebody who just graduated. I'm happy to be here and I just want to have my time with my family."
Olivas says she is looking to the fall and hopes to go to college to study nursing. While she hasn't picked a school yet, she says she wants to stay close to home.
A normal teen with an extraordinary story, one which could change more than her own destiny.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WTHR. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
