HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — Navigating a new school can be challenging enough, let alone doing so in a completely different country.

But that is exactly what our student of the week had to overcome. Daymi Campos is a senior at Holland High School and has overcome barriers and embraced his new path.

Campos said five years ago he would have never imagined he would have the opportunities he does today.

“I was born in Brooklyn in New York, but when I was two, I moved with my mom to Mexico, and that’s where I spent most of my life,” he said.

At 12 years old, Campos was living in Mexico City, doing what a 12-year-old does: attending school, playing sports, and hanging out with friends. But that would quickly change.

“They told me I was coming to the U.S. with like a two weeks’ notice,” he said.

In 2018, he left everything he knew and moved to Holland to be with his dad.

“I came by myself in the airplane too and everything. It was… It was scary,” he said.

Camps did not know much English, so he was enrolled in the Holland Language Academy. In 2019, he started his freshman year at Holland High School. His first six months were especially tough. While he was learning to navigate a new school, his grandfather passed away in January 2020.

“He had been like part of my childhood in both Mexico and over here when I came here too,” he said.

A few months later, COVID-19 caused a global pandemic, again changing everything for Campos.

For years, he played basketball and soccer and ran track, but the pandemic made him realize music was his real passion.

“I didn’t do anything for the winter. That is also thanks to covid, (but) I realized I wanted to do more music-based things, and that’s where I want to go with my career and everything,” he said.

He has already applied to and been accepted at several colleges, including Grand Valley State University, Michigan Technological University, and Western Michigan University — which is one of the top-rated music schools in the U.S.

Campos misses Mexico but said he would not go back.

“I think it was for the better,” he said. “I do feel like I would be a lot different, and maybe I wouldn’t be in such a good place like I feel I am right now.”