Morton’s Virtuous Veterinarian-to-be
By Carmen Ruiz-Guerrero
Photo taken by Ivette Rendon
Ivette with her family dog “Chloe Princess” as she writes her notes for her studies.
Ivette Rendon is a junior student attending Morton East High School. She is part of the STEM club and is learning the Chinese language. Her father owns two restaurants in the local Chicago area and has a dog named Chloe Princess.
Rendon grew up in Cicero, Illinois with her family. When she turned 16, she contributed her time and helped her father's business by helping greet the guests and work at the front table, or even go wait tables.
“Working with my dad was a whole experience because it was my very first job and I actually liked it because I would have time being with my dad. It taught me to not be nervous and shy around people, after some time I started to talk without getting shy,” Rendon said.
Since Rendon was a young girl, she always had the determination to become a veterinarian. Her inspiration for this dream was a movie she watched when she was little, and now she cares for a dog of her own.
“I don’t remember the movie but I turned the TV on and a movie was playing. They were taking care of animals and ever since seeing that movie I wanted to do that and has been my motivation. We own a dog, and when she gets sick, I take care of her because my sister doesn’t know how to,” Rendon said.
A person that is important in her life is her mother.
“My mom is a mom, but a dad at the same time. She was always on our side as kids, and she would take care of us. She would take us to school, pick us up, and make sure we had everything we needed,” Rendon said.
What is interesting about Rendon is that she loves quotes. Everyone has a quote that hits them in the heart or motivates them to be their best.
“My favorite quote is ‘Never give up on a dream that you’ve been chasing almost all your life because it motivates me to keep pushing in life and not stop until you reach your goal,” Rendon shares.
Her favorite subject is either Chinese or math. Rendon is a straight-A student, and all her teachers find her amazing. Madelin Dorta, a math teacher at Morton East, states Rendon is a fantastic student in the class.
“Ivette is very hardworking. She always gets her work done, not missing any of her assignments, and actually helps me when I am struggling with some technical issues while we are remote learning. So, she always makes sure she can see my screen when I need to share it so I know other students see it as well. She interacts a lot too. She would send good morning memes and go back all the way to August, I always had a positive perspective of her,” Dorta said.
Rendon has always been a positive person to everyone including her best friend, Marisol Saucedo. Rendon and Saucedo have been friends since elementary school and still going strong for more than 7 years now.
“She works really hard. I’m very proud of her, and being her friend. She does everything she needs to do in school and helps her family. I’m glad I got to know her, and I know in the future she will be a wonderful person and successful with whatever she wants to do as a career,” Saucedo said.
Rendon has ambitions to skip community college and go straight to university to study veterinary medicine and start her career taking care of animals. She believes Morton East is a great school and she loves being a Mustang.
