We know that immigrants can have a tough time when they first arrive in this country, especially learning the language and adjusting to new customs. Now imagine you’re a teenager who’s been here for just two short years, and you’re high school student, with all of the difficulty that that entails. You don’t speak the language well-oh, and also, you’re blind.

You gotta be pretty courageous, then, to stand up in front of 1000 people and wow them with a version of the Star-Spangled Banner in English, the words of which you learned two days before. That’s the story of Val Munoz, a 2017 immigrant from Columbia, and sophomore at Hillsborough High who has been blind since birth. She performed the national anthem before Hillsborough's track and field final home meet last Monday, and what’s so impressive about her is that you can not imagine while watching her that any she’s anything but an ordinary, cute and super-talented American high school girl.

Take a listen to Val.. She nailed it.. and she’s definitely going places.

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