He was accepted into UC Berkeley with a full scholarship from the Jordan Brand Wings program. When it came time for college applications, Kevin applied to four UCs and four CSU campuses. He found that students and teachers were drawn to his ability to listen to their concerns - clubs that had faltered during the pandemic, insufficient mental health programs, a lack of free menstrual products in restrooms. “It was that realization that we have a voice in school,” he said. I was like, ‘I’m never getting out.’ And then I stepped foot on campus and I was like, ‘Wait, what happened to never getting out? I’m a junior now,’” Kevin said. New friendships grew: small talk in Mandarin class turned into a daily wave hello, then swapping Instagram handles and hanging out after school. But he found motivation among students and the friendly competition for grades - and his rose back to As. When he returned to in-person instruction, it was a new landscape: He didn’t recognize some of his classmates and teachers after nearly two years. Some days, he babysat his 8-year-old brother, who couldn’t sit through Zoom classes. Then he would roll over, turn on the screen and listen to his teacher. He set his alarm every school day for 1 minute before 9 a.m. His aunt and uncle and their two children shared the second bedroom of the house. Kevin shared a room with his parents and his little brother, his top bunk becoming both bed and desk. Some weekends the family dined on Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kevin would stock the fridge with staples and treated himself to sugar cookies and chips for his brother. Humbled, he accepted help from InnerCity Struggle, which gave the family $500 gift cards for food. And for the first time, he worried about food. Kevin’s parents worked in garment factories, which closed during the pandemic. “I guess I didn’t realize my teachers were human as well.” “If I needed something, if I needed more time, it was just a question of me reaching out to my teachers,” he said. “ was like, ‘Just turn it in whenever you get power,’” he recalled. After years of English as a second language classes, math was something he could comprehend. Was there anything he could do? He loved math, even if he had failed the first two tests. When the power in his house went out sophomore year during online classes, he frantically texted his AP Calculus teacher from a neighbor’s phone. The pandemic taught Kevin Valladares, 18, how to ask for help. “You’re not accustomed to having that if you don’t have that in your own home.” “They’re little moments, but they’re huge to me,” she said. And she thinks of her first friends with United Students and the graduation party she attended with them. When she reflects on where she has felt most at “home” since coming to Los Angeles, she thinks of Roosevelt’s college center, where she was surprised with a bouquet of balloons and applause - she had received the Watkins Fellowship, a $40,000 scholarship awarded through the nonprofit Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. She landed a paid apprenticeship at Bank of America learning how to be a bank teller. Though she anticipates difficulties as a first-generation college student, she plans to double major in sociology and finance. “I can see myself studying really hard in this library.” The thing that stood out to me most was the library,” she said after a spring visit. “I can’t give up because of that.”Īna applied to five University of California campuses, was accepted to three and decided to attend UC Berkeley, where she received the most financial aid. “I think that’s why I still stick with wanting to go to college and why I don’t want to give up even though I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said of her pledge. She leaned on her siblings for support - and remembered the promise she had made to her mother: She would graduate from high school and go to college. She knew the places she lived in were not her home. Ana and her two siblings moved again to stay with other extended family. When school counselors told her she was far behind, she took credit recovery courses and summer school classes, and loaded up on Advanced Placement courses - earning a near perfect GPA.īut financial pressures bore down on them. Finally adept on Zoom, she played Scribbl.io and Mario Kart with other high schoolers. Her principal connected her with United Students, a leadership program hosted by InnerCity Struggle. Her friends were in Mexico she didn’t know anyone in Los Angeles. She remembers fumbling with the buttons - unable to participate and fearing her teacher thought she was not paying attention. While other students were accustomed to Zoom, Ana had never used it. She enrolled at Roosevelt High School during distance learning. “You’re trying to overcome those facts and you’re trying to go for a better future.” “It’s not easy not having both of your parents with you.
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