Vinaya is Graduating Early and Learning How to Become Financially Savvy 

Vinaya has a happy and supportive family, and she loves to spend time cooking and watching movies with them. But in high school, she found it hard to focus while sitting in classes all day and dealing with bullies, and she began to fall behind in credits. She knew that she needed to earn her diploma and go to college to get a good job, so she started looking for alternative schools.

At our school, she began to flourish with one-on-one attention and encouragement from staff. Having one main teacher who follows her progress and gets her the help she needs from other teachers and tutors is ideal for Vinaya. She can take extra time on subjects that are challenging, and thanks to our flexible schedule, she is able to work and help care for her niece and nephew. 

Instead of Dropping Out, Teen Mom Angelina Found HOPE

When Angelina was 15, she became pregnant with her son. After four months and she couldn’t hide it any longer, her school counselor recommended our school, knowing that a flexible schedule and a school that let her bring her baby would be ideal for her.

Our HOPE (Helping Our Parenting-teens Excel) program features child-friendly areas that allow parenting students to focus on their schoolwork while their babies play nearby. She was able to graduate, earn an associate’s degree at a community college and then transfer to California State University Northridge where she is working on her bachelor's degree.

Angelina’s goals are to become a child advocate and/or work as a social worker and to expand her small bakery business (@SweetCakeShack) and to one day purchase a home.

This Teacher is Showing Students How Much She Cares 

We see time after time how students can blossom and flourish when just one adult in their life shows that they care. Tanja Politiski is that inspiring, caring teacher for so many of her students…like Zane, a homeless student she was determined to help meet his goal of graduating. He was doing well with school, but then his foster mother asked him to leave their home. At age 17, the last thing he wanted to do was go back in the system and enter another foster home. So, he ran.  

The pandemic was just starting, and Zane was couch-surfing from one city to the next. Tanja drove three hours to take him a Chromebook one weekend, traveled two hours to give him a hotspot the next weekend. Fortunately, he stayed in touch with school…and Tanja was not about to give up on him. His goal was to graduate before his 18th birthday -- and he did it!

Her compassion for and dedication to her students comes from two of her own teachers who had a huge impact on her life.