Lily Dorman Colby is a state champion wrestler- 120 pounds of equal opportunity takedowns. She plays on the Berkeley high football team as a linebacker. She says she isn’t fast, can’t catch - but loves to tackle. She is the student representative on the Berkeley School Board. Lily got a perfect 800 on her SAT math scores. She sees her teachers as role-models and includes them as members of her family.

You might think a capable child like Lily Dorman Colby was born into privilege; far from it. As a young child Lily moved in and out of foster care. Her mother had a drug problem and Lily grew up in a house filled with homeless people, prostitutes and drug dealers. Her home life was so unstable, that when she was 12 the courts terminated her parents’ rights. With no one to help her, she became, self contained, and motivated. Lily says If she doesn’t take care of it; it won't happen for her.

In her room in her current foster home, Lily treasures photos of her three brothers with whom she still has contact; the youngest is autistic. Social justice is Lily’s passion. She has her sights set on an Ivy League school. Her struggles, she says, have sharpened her determination. As a ward of the court, Lily lives on a few hundred dollars a month.

The state will cut her loose when she turns 18. The students rising above scholarship will help Lily pay for college. She dreams of becoming a United States Senator.

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