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‘‘My birthday is really hard because ... I remember my time in El Salvador,” she said. ‘‘All my birthdays, I had my grandmother, she took us out, we ate outside — it was really nice being with her, all the love that she gave us.”

Marina didn’t speak English when she immigrated to the U.S. in 2005 to live with her father.

‘‘It was hard for me when I came to the U.S. because I had never been here before and I had not lived with him in a long time and for me it was going to be a new life,” Marina said.

Marina’s story is similar to that of other Latino teenagers whose families came to the U.S. in search of a better life.

In just a few years, the bubbly teenager has learned to speak fluent English with the rapid clip of an American high schooler and she has embraced her new country.

Identity has become her home away from home and helped her flourish.

‘‘I spend almost all my time here,” Marina said. ‘‘When I have nothing to do, I just come to chill out with them,” she said referring to staff.

The nonprofit offers mentoring, counseling and tutoring programs for at-risk Latino youth at 11 schools in Montgomery County. About 550 students each semester attend the after-school programs.

Marina is a sophomore honors student at Watkins Mill High School in Montgomery Village. She said she hopes to win a scholarship and attend Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore then join the medical profession.

Her school success and language confidence come in large part from experiences with Identity’s Positive Youth Development program. She joined the program about three years ago on the advice of her older brother, who had arrived three months earlier and was finding friends and support in the high school program.

She had just arrived to the U.S. to live with her father, whom she had not seen in seven years. Her father, who trained for two years as a lawyer in El Salvador, now works two jobs so he can care for his two children and send them to college, she said.

Identity helped Marina, her dad, stepmother and brother connect to one another at a time when teens usually withdraw from family interaction. Trained counselors attend four meetings with parents to help families learn to address issues, said Oliver Fajardo, program manager.

‘‘It’s very hard to be an instantaneous parent to a teenager,” said Teresa Wright, an MCPS parent resource teacher who ‘‘recruits” students to join Identity in Watkins Mill cluster schools. ‘‘A teenager is a very special kind of person who is changing.”

While Marina worked on family relationships, learned English and adapted to life as a teenager in America, she made friendships with other Latinas, some of whom have experienced the same struggles.

One new friend is fellow Watkins Mill sophomore Brenda Rivas, 16, who was born in the U.S., but sought friendships with fellow Latinas.

‘‘I was always quiet, my mom wanted me to join something,” Brenda said. ‘‘She wanted me to join a program because she’ll be busy and she wants me to do” productive things.

The girls became fast friends giggling over a self-esteem exercise that had them trace each other’s bodies on paper. Together, they have practiced public speaking before the mayor and city council in Gaithersburg and Montgomery County Council.

Both have participated in activities they otherwise might not have enjoyed. They went on field trips to destinations such as the National Aquarium in Baltimore and spent three days on retreat in the West Virginia mountains.

‘‘If I had a birthday wish it would be to spend more time with family and to be here with Identity,” Marina said with a smile.