ACSA Every Student Succeeding Program Student Story Archives 1996 Region 1 Monica Sanchez Red Bluff High, Red Bluff Union HSD Intelligent and sensitive, Monica Sanchez is a natural leader. Two years ago, she used her leadership skills to recruit and mold members of a local female gang. In the last year as a peer counselor and advisor, she used her influence to positively affect other girls, helping them to stay in school and out of trouble. Monica, a 1996 graduate of Red Bluff High School, is ACSA’s Every Student Succeeding Recognition program winner for Region 1. The program commends students for overcoming extraordinary odds to succeed in school and recognizes the educators who helped them. Monica’s support team included Red Bluff High principal Joe Pelanconi, associate principals Rick Prestwood and Bob Bryson, high school counselor Jose “Pep” Roa and Chico State University’s talent search counselor Doyle Lowry. At the beginning of high school, Monica was involved with a local Red Bluff gang whose members were in constant contact and conflict with young women from nearby Corning. Monica had no use for school. A community effort involving parents, law enforcement officers, probation officials and school staff helped Monica to change. The officials met with parents to help them understand gangs and convince them of the need to work together to help their children. And they met with students involved with gangs or at risk for joining them to show them positive alternatives. Red Bluff High staff, including Pelanconi, Prestwood, Bryson and Roa, met with Monica to discuss the need for her to make difference choices and to explain the consequences of her behavior. They also told her about the opportunities that awaited her, if she made other choices. Roa, her counselor, met with her individually many times to give her support. She also received help from student support groups and peer counseling. Lowry, the Chico State University talent search counselor, meanwhile, showed her how to further her education after high school. “Slowly, Monica began to discover who she was,” Bryson wrote in an essay nominating Monica for the Every Student Succeeding award. In her senior year, Monica carried a 3.25 grade-point average in college prep classes and became a peer counselor. She organized numerous support group meetings to help other students, and now she plans to attend college and pursue a career in education or counseling. “She has been a great asset to her school. She understands what she was, and who she is now,” Bryson said. “Certainly, she has had a great deal of help; unlike many others, though, she has taken advantage of this help and support.” ■ ■ ■ Region 2 Sara Davila Transitional Learning Center, South Tahoe High, Lake Tahoe USD In her junior year at South Tahoe High School, Sara Davila was heading toward becoming another high school dropout statistic. She paid little attention to her studies, became pregnant and finally stopped attending classes. Yet after her daughter was born in her senior year, Sara managed to steer herself onto a successful course, despite the challenges of attending school and raising a child. Sara is Region 2’s winner of ACSA’s Every Student Succeeding Recognition award, which honors students who conquer extraordinary challenges to succeed in school and recognizes the educators who helped them. Her support team included staff members of Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s Transitional Learning Center; Aaron Barnett, counselor; Geniene Newport, program coordinator of the Young Parents Project; Sharon Urban, Independent Studies Center director; Jim Stevens, alternative education principal; and Tara Tibbetto, bilingual teacher. Sara enrolled at South Tahoe High School as a freshman just after immigrating to the United States from Mexico. She had limited English proficiency, but bilingual teachers learned she was highly motivated to overcome the obstacle. For more than a year Sara devoted herself to her studies and improved her English language skills. But her efforts were interrupted when her family relocated to Florida. They returned to California the next semester, however, and Sara enrolled again at South Tahoe High School. But her attitude had changed. She was behind in credits, and was less motivated. She began to work part- time and lose interest in her school work. After she became pregnant, the bilingual faculty, along with counselors, teachers, parents and classmates, urged her to stay in school. Sara stopped attending, though, until what should have been her senior year. The decision to return to school came from Sara’s own personal drive. After her daughter was born, she got a glimpse of the reality of trying to support a child and having no high school diploma. Having realized the value of education, Sara enrolled at Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s Transitional Learning Center, where she threw herself into her studies with zeal. “She was very, very determined to finish school,” recalled Geniene Newport, program coordinator of the Young Parents Project. “She was determined to provide the best possible future for her child and for herself.” Sara pulled her grades up to mostly A’s and B’s. While she studied full-time, her daughter attended the South Tahoe High School Nursery. She completed her senior project on infant and prenatal care and presented her findings in English to a panel. Sara plans to continue her education at a community college. “She’ll do very very well,” Newport said. “She’s just neat kid-and she’s an excellent mother.” ■ ■ ■ Region 3 Allegra Pickett Highlands High, Grant HSD Categorizing Allegra Pickett according to her accomplishments at Highlands High School would be impossible. The May graduate was both a cheerleader captain and a varsity athlete; a science Olympiad and a class president; a newspaper correspondent and a member of a missionary group. The list goes on and on. “She is a most well-rounded student,” said Constance Farias, former Highlands principal. “She always seems to accomplish what she sets out to do.” Because of her well-rounded involvement and dedication, Allegra was chosen the Region 3 winner of ACSA’s Every Student Succeeding Recognition award. The award honors students who beat the odds to succeed and recognizes the educators who supported them. Allegra ‘s support team included Farias and Roberta Mayor, Grant Joint Union High School District’s assistant superintendent of instruction. Farias said Pickett was willing to work the extra hours required to get the most out of her four years in high school, and she served as a role model for other students. “She has shown a willingness to work with others and can be counted on as a team player in addition to maintaining top academic grades in challenging courses,” she wrote in a letter nominating Allegra for the honor. Allegra was a visible student leader. She was president of her freshmen, sophomore and junior classes. In her senior year, she served as president of the entire student body as well as chairing the Grant district’s Advisory Council of Students. As council chairperson, she attended the district’s Board of Trustee meetings twice monthly and provided trustees with updates of student activities and concerns. “She was respected by her peers as well as school faculty members and other students throughout the district,” Farias said. Besides serving students as a whole, Allegra helped students one- on-one by providing peer counseling and peer tutoring and participating in the University of California at Davis’s Early Outreach. Meanwhile, she was a member of the California Scholarship Federation, Who’ s Who Among American High School Students, the Law Team, the National Society of Black Engineers and Math Engineering and Science Achievement. She was also a 1995 Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante and a Sacramento Link’s Escort and she participated in the Air Force ROTC Summer Program. In sports, she was active both on and off the field. She was captain of the freshman and junior varsity cheerleading squads, co-captain of the varsity cheerleading squad and a member of the varsity song squad. Meanwhile, she played freshmen, junior varsity and varsity basketball and junior varsity softball, and she made the varsity track team three years. Allegra’s involvement wasn’t limited to school. She was a cheerleading coach three years for California Youth Football. She worked 140 hours as a Traveler’s Aid receptionist and was active in Acteens Missionary Group and UNICEF for California Youth Federation. “Allegra Pickett is an outstanding student, bright, articulate and extremely personable,” Mayor wrote in Allegra’s nomination for the ACSA award. Allegra now is a premed student at the University of California at Berkeley. ■ ■ ■ Region 4 Celina Young Rancho Cotati High, Cotati-Rohnert Park SD As a young girl taking dance lessons, Celina Yong was inspired by her dance instructor’s constant encouragement, “Never give up on your dreams.” Now as a teen-ager Celina gives the same message to the young dance students she coaches and mentors. “Everything given to her, she gives back,” says Jeannette Anglin, director of secondary education for Santa Rosa City Schools. “She just blooms where she’s planted and makes the best of everything.” Celina’s remarkable achievements and focus on helping others earned her ACSA ‘s Every Student Succeeding Recognition award for Region 4. The award honors students who overcame obstacles to succeed in school and recognizes the educators who supported them. Celina’s support team included the late Anita Kane, former director of the Anita Kane Ballet Company; Bud Shirley, her history teacher at Mountain Shadows Middle School; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Yong; and Anglin. Celina has been an outstanding, active student since she moved to California from Canada in the second grade.