A San Isidro Independent School District student is striving for the American dream while putting his small community on the map.

Ruben Becerra's writing has been nationally recognized and will now be published in a book that will soon hit local and national libraries.

Putting pencil to paper, 8th grader Ruben Becerra turned his writing into a national published piece.

"[The] Young Writers Awards 2025 was a competition between other schools and other school districts at the national level, and I didn't know I had won. I was surprised in class," Ruben said.

Young Writers USA is a program that hosts a creative writing and poetry competition every year. Around 25 to 30 award-winning stories are chosen to be featured in the Young Writers Anthology, a published book.

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Ruben was awarded the 2025 Young Writers Creativity Award Talent for Writing Certificate for Merit.

"I didn't think I was going to win because I only have two years in the U.S., learning," Ruben said.

Ruben is originally from China Nuevo León, Mexico and moved to San Isidro for a better life and education.

"I saw that he wants to go places," ELA teacher Ninfa Velazquez said. "Every time I would talk to him, I would tell him 'dale gana, si se puede,' you know, those are the words I would communicate with him."

Velazquez pushed him to go for the gold and encouraged him to write his story. It eventually got selected to be published in the Young Writers Anthology 2025.

At a school district with just 180 kids from elementary to high school, District Principal Lori Moore says from academics to sports, her students are always willing to participate in everything.

"The students that see me as an example, will see that anything is possible, someone that, in just two years, won this prize," Ruben said.

Proving that with hard work and dedication can help achieve anything.

Ruben Becerra is made in 956.