F U L L N A M E
Melissa Rachel Nzekwu Trigueros

N I C K N A M E S
Mel [everyone], Trig [track team], Pombinho [father]

A G E
18

G E N D E R
Female

Y E A R
Senior

S E X U A L I T Y
Heterosexual

R O O M N U M B E R
202

H O M E T O W N
Lisbon, Portugal

H E I G H T
5'2"

W E I G H T
130 lbs

B O D Y T Y P E
Athletic

H A I R
Mel's hair is long and dark brown. It is usually worn either down in its naturally messy, curly state, or up in a bun or ponytail.

E Y E C O L O R
Chocolate

C L O T H I N G
Mel's clothing tends toward comfort rather than fashion. She typically wears jeans, big sweaters, loose fitting tees and jackets, and comfortable boots or sandals. However, that is not to say that she has no sense of fashion. When it comes to dressing up,

P I E R C I N G S
Mel has five in her left ear and six in her right. She also has a belly button piercing as well as a nose piercing on her left side.

T A T T O O S
While the official law in Portugal is that one must be 18 to get a tattoo, in the part of Lisbon that Mel is from, that law (along with many other laws) is rarely enforced. So, when Mel turned 16 she got her first tattoo, a plain black cross between her shoulder blades. Her next tattoo, 6 months after her first, was to commemorate her mother's date of death, IV.IX.MMIII (April 9, 2003) on her left bicep. Mel got her final tattoo the day before she left for school this year, the word pombinho with a small dove next to it.

P E R S O N A L I T Y
✦ Confident ✦ Charming ✦ Loud ✦ Hardworking ✦ Headstrong ✦
✦ Stubborn ✦ Fun ✦ Loyal ✦ Wise ✦

To friends and family, Mel is generally known as a headstrong, stubborn, and confident girl. She never backs down from a challenge either placed on her or on her friends (although there are times when she probably should). The reason for this is that she was taught from an early age that a man's pride can only be taken from him if he lets it be taken. So, naturally, Mel has always made the conscious decision to never let anyone take away her pride or the pride of those close to her. Despite the fact that she is easily angered by submissive, spineless people, Mel is fiercely, stubbornly loyal to her loved ones. Therefore, while she may be quick to anger, she has never and will never turn away from a loved one no matter how angry she is.

Although her stubborn, forceful, loud demeanor may come off as annoying and, in some cases, mean, Mel has never been a malicious person in any way, shape, or form. She is a fun-loving jokester and is always in the mood to have a good time. That being said, Mel is also very in-tune to the feelings of others and she knows when her jokes are unwanted or when they go too far.

Mel has always been a wise girl. Many say that she was born with an old soul. She is great with advice, but sometimes feels a disconnect with people her age. Despite her wisdom, however, Mel is not a book-smart person. She is more street smart and logical than anything; so, she has struggled often with grades. She is not dull or stupid, but several subjects like English and History escape her. That being said, Mel is wise and charming and she knows how to get decent grades in her classes.

Mel is a headstrong, sometimes annoyingly loud girl with strong opinions and a short fuse; however, she her humor, empathy, and stubborn loyalty to those she loves makes her a good friend who will always have your back.

H I S T O R Y
Mel was born in one of the worse parts of Lisbon, Portugal to a loving mother, father, older sister, and six older brothers. Her sister, Isabella, was the oldest of the flock, a full 14 years older than Mel. Despite the fact that her family was loving and stuck together, being the youngest of seven meant that Mel was always a bit forgotten about in terms of her parents. They tried their best to watch after all of them, and Mel has absolutely never held it against them that she was more than once accidentally left somewhere she shouldn't have been. In any case, having a mother that was seemingly always at work, and one older sister who, after the age of 16, was alway somewhere more important, Mel never really had any great female role models. This, paired with the fact that she was growing up with six older brothers in one of the more seedy areas of Lisbon, forced Mel to become a tough girl. She would often get looks from the pink-clad girls when Mel would challenge a boy to an arm-wrestling match, but she rarely gave those onlookers a second glance. After all, her dad always told her, "The only someone can take your pride is if you let them."

After the six boys that preceded her, Mel's father was more than excited to have another baby girl. He spoiled her as much as their funds would allow and always gave her goodnight kisses. By around the age of five, he had taken to calling Mel "Pombinho" meaning "little dove" in Portuguese because she was tiny, chatty, and quick like a bird, but she also brought a sense of peace and wholeness to the family.

Mel's mother was less domestic than her father. She loved her family, but having eight children and working two jobs had put an unfathomable amount of stress on her mind and body. She was not a bad mother, but after Mel was born she had, understandably, wanted some time for herself. What Mel remembers most of her mother were the nights that she would stay awake to see her mom come home from a long night out with friends and would still go to every room to whisper goodnight to each of her children. When Mel was six, her mother passed away quietly in her sleep from a heart attack after weeks of chest pain brought on by an unknown heart condition. It was a bleak time for the entire Trigueros family, especially Mel's father who now had to figure out how to raise seven children. Isabella had moved away to Spain to find work and was sending whatever she could back home. Extended family from both her mother's Kenyan side of the family and her father's Portuguese side of the family, pulled together to help the family. The support and money ended up being enough to put two of Mel's brothers through school.

The family was just scraping by when Isabella called to tell them all that she was getting engaged to an extremely wealthy Spanish man named Emmanuel Hunter. It seemed too good to be true, but he was an extremely generous man who was heir to some Spanish fortune and a booming shipping company. Emmanuel was able to buy the Trigueros family a modest home in the nicer part of Lisbon, he put three more of Mel's brothers through school, and he currently pays for Mel's boarding charges (although she works as often as possible to pay for anything she can pay for herself). He is a good man and Mel is grateful for everything he has given her family. Because of him, Mel was given incentive to get back in touch with Isabella and she began speaking with her sister on a weekly basis, finally gaining that female role model that she craved in a houseful of boys. She is now extremely close with her sister and turns to her for all the female advice that she never got growing up.

Mel's family has basically been her entire life which is why boarding school has been hard, but also why it has been good for her. She talks to her dad, each of her brothers, and her sister every other week (if not more often), but being away from them has given her the chance to be herself more than she was ever able to be. Mel has been able to expand her love of running (something which she found was a calming time for her to get away from home when growing up) and has become the star of the track team. People see Mel for who she is at school and they like her, and that is why she truly loves school. She hopes to someday be an architect and be able to support any family member that needs it.

F A M I L Y
✦ Rachel Trigueros ✦ Mother ✦ Deceased ✦
✦ Peter Trigueros ✦ Father ✦ Living ✦ 57 ✦
✦ Isabella "Iz" Trigueros-Hunter ✦ Sister ✦ Living ✦ 32 ✦
✦ David Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦ 30 ✦
✦ Jack Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦ 27 ✦
✦ Samuel "Sam" Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦ 25 ✦
✦ Dominic "Dom Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦25✦
✦ John "Johnny" Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦ 23 ✦
✦ Miguel "Mikey" Trigueros ✦ Brother ✦ Living ✦ 21 ✦