Yasmim Barros only knew how to say “mom” and “thank you” when she moved to the U.S. at age 11, some seven years ago. But in June, she graduated from East Side High School in Newark, N.J., as her class president, a track star — and was offered a full scholarship to attend Harvard University. “I’m making my family proud,” says Barros, 18. “My family's really happy that their hard work has paid off. I was raised by a village, quite literally.” Barros was born in northern Brazil. Her mother, Glaucia Barros Dos Santos, first moved to America when Barrow was only 2, so her grandparents raised her and her older brother, Kaua. “They’re really good people,” she says. “I loved growing up with my cousins.” Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. About a decade later, Barros and her brother traveled with their father to be reunited with her mom, who was working as a housecleaner in Newark. To learn English, Barros relied on movies, music and books — which she read in both English and Portuguese — “to help me get the hang of it,” she says. “I tried my best.” That proved more than enough: At East Side High, she became the student council president, yearbook editor, captain of the track and cross country team and a member of the National Honor Society, the Portuguese National Honor Society and the Math Honor Society. “She’s involved in everything,” says Carlos Rodriguez, East Side's principal. “She wants to see change.” Barros puts it another way: “I believe in myself and I believe that I can do whatever I put my mind to. If I didn’t believe in myself, I would have likely not even tried going to Harvard.” The teen, who loves reading and baking, often spent time in Rodriguez's office, advocating for students. She also helped start a middle school track program. “She’s an awesome kid,” Rodriguez says. Anabel Lago, her school guidance counselor, agrees. “She wouldn’t give up,” Lago says. During the college application process, Barros submitted an essay about the lessons her grandfather taught her on how to water plants. “You have to have patience and you have to understand those plants. And some plants need a lot of water, some doesn't really need any water. And I took that lesson and I applied it to my relationships with my friends and, really, everyone around me,” she says. “This is not just my achievement. I didn't get here just because I'm me — it's because they've all given me the opportunities that I needed and they helped shape me to who I am today.” Next month, Barros will begin classes at Harvard. She will be the first in her family to attend college — and when she received her acceptance to the Ivy League school, they were overwhelmed with emotion. “They were crying a lot,” she says. “There was a lot of tears from everyone." She plans to study at the Institute of Politics and focus on political science, someday practicing either constitutional law or international law. But there's time. “I’m still deciding,” she says. “I really want to help change the world.”