Students Rising Above

Our Featured Students

• Oakland Teen Overcomes Homelessness, Foster Homes To Graduate As Valedictorian; Headed To Yale OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- Carlene Ervin graduated Valedictorian from Aspire Cal Prep Academy in Berkeley, to much applause. In her commencement speech, she quoted from one of her favorite books by Dr. Seuss, “Oh The Places You’ll Go” Today is your...
• Fremont High School Valedictorian Overcomes Violence, Poverty With Help Of Muay Thai Despite challenges at home, William Varner finished at the top of his academy at Fremont High in Oakland with the help of martial arts.
• Students Rising Above Sometimes Forced To Overcome PTSD Living around violence in the inner city is making children sick. Kids living in high crime areas have a higher rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than soldiers because they are living in “virtual combat zones”, according to Dr. Howard...
• Students Rising Above: Richmond High Student Helps Deaf Parents Meuy Phan is graduating from Richmond High School with near-perfect grades. But her biggest accomplishment may be at home where she has grown up with the responsibilities of an adult.
• San Jose School Overcomes Odds, Low-Income Neighborhood To Send Graduates To 4-Year Colleges A high school in San Jose which serves one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the city is sending a record number of seniors to college; on Wednesday, the principal recognized them with T-shirts of the schools they are attending.