FLEMING ISLAND – When Reyna Jean Louis Jeudi answered the final question on the English Language Arts portion of the FAST exam, she muttered to herself, “I beat you.”

She defiantly walked up to the teacher and handed over the exam. Unlike her previous five failed attempts, she said not to expect to see her again. This time was different. Reyna wasn’t anxious, scared or oblivious.

“The difference was I had confidence,” she said.

When Reyna arrived at Fleming Island High, she was terrified. She came from Haiti and was seemingly transposed into hallways where very few looked like her, nobody spoke her language and she had no friends. It was like watching a foreign movie with no subtitles.

“I remember my first day. It was a Tuesday. I remember that morning. I was so stressed, so nervous,” she said. “I couldn’t speak the language. I was terrified. I was so lost. I moved here in the middle of my sophomore year, and it took all my courage just to walk in on that first day.”

Reyna couldn’t find her classes on her second day. She remembered standing in the center courtyard lost and afraid, crying until someone helped her. She listened to lessons, not knowing what was being taught. Worse yet, she knew she had to pass the FAST Assessment to graduate.

“I was lost and crying in the courtyard and this sweet lady came up to me,” Reyna said. “I don’t think I even know her name. She took me to the gymnasium, and this is where I met coach [Amy] Walker. She’s an amazing woman. As soon as I stepped in, she made me feel at home. She made me feel like I was at home. She introduced me to my first two friends, Lisa and Jennifer. Lisa was Brazilian and Jennifer was from Argentina. I immediately felt a connection with them because when I walked into the classroom, I was the only person in there with color. It made me feel uncomfortable. With Lisa and Jennifer, I felt a connection because we were alike and we shared beautiful accents.”

The social adjustments were one thing, but the academics were another. She passed the required BEST math test for graduation, but the FAST Assessment for English was still an issue.

Although she was slowly learning the language, seeing it and responding in a test format was different. The first five times she took the test, she knew she was defeated before she started.

The sixth time, however, she walked in confident she was going to pass.

“This time, I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t trembling,” Reyna said. “I didn't think of anything that day. My mind was blank. I just walked in with only one thing on my mind: I'm going to take that test and I'm going to pass that test, because I am not going to not graduate. I'm going to have that diploma.”

After putting aside her fears and uncertainties, she joined her classmates on Friday, May 22, during graduation ceremonies.