After getting in trouble in middle school for selling bracelets, junior Wendy Henriquez-Santiago never thought she would make jewelry again.

Similar to any other high school student, Henriquez-Santiago asked her parents about getting a job.

“They asked why would I want to work because I can just ask them for money,” Henriquez-Santiago said. “We already have a lot of bills to pay [though], which is why I [refuse] to ask for money.”

Henriquez-Santiago proposed the idea of making jewelry like she previously did in the past.

“I [first] started telling my friends how I was going to start this business,” Henriquez-Santiago said. “I [also] sell my jewelry at the Farmer’s Market and at my church.”

With Henriquez-Santiago already making a profit out of her bracelets, she plans to widen her sales to an online website, Etsy.

Henriquez-Santiago is different from other jewelry being sold in the school because of the handcrafted engravings and quotes on the jewelry.

“I used to buy bracelets, and they had meanings and engravings,” Henriquez-Santiago said. “That is where I got my idea to do the same thing, but in my own way.”

Although her earnings are going towards producing more jewelry, fundraising to uplift her church’s youth group and limit the amount of money she asks from her parents, she has one more thing she’ll be using it for: her future.

“I sell them to pay for my AP and DE classes, and for my SATs,” Henriquez-Santiago said. “The rest is going towards college, as well just so my parents don’t have to do more. They already work so hard.”