Oakland High Schooler Learns Hard Work Ethic From Ailing Mother; Overcomes Odds On Way To College
(KPIX 5) -- At 8:30AM on a Saturday morning, while most kids are still sleeping, Sharit Cardenas Lopez is busy helping her mom clean a client's home.
They need the money. Her mom has had multiple operations for carpal tunnel syndrome, but as a single mom with three girls, she must work even when she is in pain. "She just keeps pushing and it scares me to know that her necessity is so big that she takes that pain," says Sharit.
Her mom has had other health problems: appendicitis, ovarian cancer and now, diabetes. Sharit has a heart condition as well. But when her mom is ill, or recovering from operations, there is no income.
It is also difficult for her mother to find work because she doesn't speak English. They live month to month in an apartment in East Oakland. "It's really terrifying," says Sharit, "not knowing if you're going to have food next month."
So, as soon as she was legally old enough to get a work permit, Sharit went to work. "Sharit being able to work means that not only will she be able to take the bus. It also means she can put food on the table," says her teacher Natalie Lizardo.
During the summer she worked tutoring at a program called the "Partners Summer Academy Program." It was more than a job; she actually started going there in middle school as a student, strengthening her academic skills.
Something her mother gave her helped the door swing wide open for Sharit at the tutoring center and at school. "She's taught me strength. To set priorities to set goals." One top priority is her education.
"I am going to go to school, graduate, go to college so that she and my family will no longer have to endure such hardships," she says.
At Envision High in Oakland, a charter college prep school, she has mentors who can help with her college applications. Since no one at home has the English skills to help her with homework, Sharit has had to make all these inroads on her own.
Recently, in applying to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, she found and later received a scholarship that would pay for her to go and see the school. Teachers like Natalie Lizardo respect that kind of drive saying, "When Sharit enters a room whether it's in a classroom or if it's at home you feel her presence. You'll hear her voice."
She learned that leadership skill at home, where she helps her mother run the house. Sharit does much of the cooking, cleaning, and making sure her grandmother is comfortable. She is a role model for her younger sister."Sharit is functioning as an adult at home," says Lizardo, "making sure that little sister is ready for the next school day, making sure she has her own assignments done."
Some days Sharit helps her mother with her homework- she is trying to learn English. She brought her children to the U.S. so they could get an education and however difficult their life is, that one dream is coming true for Sharit. "It's taught me to fight harder than is expected," says Sharit. "Its taught me to just keep moving."
