“There’s a saying out there that the strongest man you know is a first-born daughter,” said Denise Gondrez, Gear Up adviser at Mitchell High School, “and Talia is the prime example of that quote.”

Mitchell High School senior Talia Miranda has overcome more challenges than most of her peers, including a move from Florida to Colorado at 10 years old and, from age 13, taking on nearly all the responsibility and care of her four younger brothers.

“Although you have 18 years until you become an adult,” Miranda said, “I have been 18 since I turned 13. The kids would look to me to attend parent teacher conferences, for guidance, and were scared to get an ‘F’ since they didn’t want a lecture from me.”

Miranda not only supports her brothers, Aiden, Jibran, Jaxon and Rey, but works a part-time job to contribute to family expenses, helps her father with his business, and manages the home.

“They don’t know it, but those boys are the reason I have this motivation to do better and be able to do my schoolwork the best — I can so I can teach them, lead them, and gain that life experience to guide them over the walls and take those big steps,” Miranda said.

After experiencing the loss of a close friend due to an overdose in their freshman year, Miranda spiraled into a deep depression. She failed classes and said she felt as though she’d be broken forever. With the support of close friends, Miranda completely turned around her academics, including taking every science class Mitchell High School offered and dual-enrolling with Pikes Peak State College to gain her emergency medical technician certification.

With her incredible drive, tenacity and resilience, Miranda now has her sights set on becoming a surgeon. Being the first-born daughter that she is, Miranda also has the entire career path mapped out.

“I’m going to Charleston Southern University to study biology,” Miranda said. “Afterward, I hope to join the Army and try to become a combat medic so I can afford medical school. I want to help people and be able to save lives. The thing that appeals most to me about a medical background is that it’s like a superpower.”

Miranda is no novice when it comes to serving the community, in addition to always carrying around a bit of extra money, food, clothes and drinks to hand out to the unhoused and suffering members of the community, she also organizes the biweekly United Way food distribution.

“When people think of others in need, they typically think only of those who are on the streets or working several jobs to provide for their families,” Miranda said. “After talking to many people, I realized that those aren’t the only ones in need. Nobody saw the scars within me, and I believe we need to learn more about those scars in others to improve together.”

Miranda also has big plans once she finishes medical school and residency. She hopes to open a free clinic to make her expertise available to everyone in need.

“When I think of the community I live in, I want it to improve and become a place where no matter the color of your skin, how much money you have in your pocket, we are all seen as equal,” Miranda said.

If anyone is capable of such seismic change, it is Miranda, who Gondrez said is so much more than “a fighter” and “she is continuously growing mentally an academically … I have no doubt she can accomplish her dreams.”