Graduate Success
Meet some of our remarkable students who have overcome tremendous odds to achieve their dream of a college education. You can see updated profiles of our most recent 2008 graduates on CBS 5 - KPIX's Students Rising Above page: http://cbs5.com/slideshows/SRA.20.433501.html.
Be sure to view "Post cards from College" for updates on our students currently attending college.
Congratulations to our 2008 Graduating College Students: Aisha Johnson, University of Pacific; Damon Witts, UC, Berkeley; DeMarus Allen, Northwestern University; Karl Berta, UC Berkeley; Lorna Contreras, St.Mary's College; Patrick Armstrong, UC Berkeley; Ricardo Iraheta, UC Santa Barbara; Stevon Cook, Williams College; Veronica Toscano, Santa Clara University; Walid Zafar, University of Puget Sound; and Zachary Tabb, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Here are some stories from our earlier graduates:
Billy Kopeikin
Billy has always had to scramble. He was just seven years old when he and his brother learned to fend for themselves. Their parents were abusive and they sometimes found themselves living on the streets. Billy was taken in by a family whose instincts told them he needed a break. Billy found comfort in school and his good grades earned him acceptance to the University of Oregon.
Kimberly Armstrong
Kimberly had a seriousness of purpose that many adults would envy. It came to her the hard way. At five, Kimberly witnessed her mother’s murder. She and her brothers were then put into the home of an abusive alcoholic relative. At age 11, Kimberly packed up her little brothers and fled in the middle of the night to a relative who took them in. There was not much money and an ironclad rule – you will study. And study she did.
Stevon Cook
Stevon Cook grew up with drug and alcohol addicted parents. Stevon and his sister witnessed the ill-effects and destruction that this behavior had not only on his mom and dad, but also on his own life as a young boy and teenager growing up in San Francisco.
Eddie Smith-Lewis
Eddie Smith-Lewis grew up around poverty and drugs in the projects of West Oakland. Through hard and persistence, he ended up at a prestigious prep school headed for college. With offers from Ivy League universities, Eddie chose to attend Morehouse College where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and was a Rhodes Scholar finalist.
Aaron Bianco
When we first met Aaron eight years ago, he was an honors student at De la Salle high. Even then his teachers could see his gift. As his teacher Julie Townley commented, "Aaron is a kid who comes along in the life of someone like me, once in a lifetime. He is thirsty for information; he is thirsty for knowledge."
Where is Aaron now? He graduated from Princeton University and is now studying at Boalt Law School.
Tina Chau
We first met Tina when she was a senior at Wallenberg High school in San Francisco with a perfect 4.0. But it hasn't been easy for Tina. Her immigrant parents came to America to seek a better life.
Where is she now? Tina graduated from UC Berkeley in 2002 and is now a news reporter in Hawaii.
Verleana Green
This is a story that took eight years to finish. That's how long we've followed a student who rose above. Verleana came from one of the toughest neighborhoods in the Bay Area to the University of San Francisco, and graduated with a law degree in 2005.
Silena Layne
Silena had to find the support to make it by herself. She was 19 years old when we first met her. She and her 17-year-old sister, Shivawn, were living totally on their own in East Oakland. No welfare, no parents to rely on.
Where is Silena now? A lot has happened since her days in East Oakland, she graduated from USF, joined the Peace Corps, taught second grade in a private elementary school ,and is now starting an after-school facility in the Western Addition.