Shayra Barrientos is a 16-year-old junior attending Birmingham Community Charter High School. Shayra was born on February 1, 2009, at Northridge Hospital. She is the youngest sibling, having an older brother and sister. Shayra is Salvadorian; her parents were born and raised in El Salvador, while she was born and raised in the valley.

Shayra’s dream is to be a famous artist and dancer. She hopes that someday her art pieces will be sold, and that people will want to learn her dance choreography. Shayra also has many hobbies, her main ones being drawing, dancing, listening to music, and watching movies. Her favorite music artists are Kali Uchis, Newjeans, Katseye, Rauw Alejandro, and Dean. Her favorite movies are La La Land, The Aristocats, Princess and the Frog, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.

Shayra loves drawing and has been doing it since she can remember. She loves being able to draw out her thoughts and be creative with pieces. As for dancing, she loves learning choreography from different dancers. Shayra started her freshman year in Beginning Dance class, and now she dances on her own.

Shayra’s plans after graduating high school include going to a nice college, probably CSUN. She isn’t worried about going to a very big university like UCLA, because she believes she can still be successful even without attending a university like that. Shayra wants to go into art and hopes it could be her job for the future.  This job would include drawing, painting, music, design, or dance. She also plans on taking a gap year, maybe after high school or in between her college years. During that gap year, she wants to travel to other countries, such as Japan, Switzerland, Korea, Italy, etc, and use that time to herself.