Three students acquire $5G awards
Dec 30
Sunday, Mar 13th 2011, 4:00 AM
These bright young people from around a city came from poor, struggling families – and have found a approach to account their dreams of going to college.
From Narita Shelton of Brooklyn, who lived with her mom in a homeless shelter; to Mariama Diallo of Queens, who lifted her 3 immature brothers; to Travis Lawson, who came to East Harlem from Guyana but meaningful English, a 3 are now full-time college students.
The 3 were among 22 students around a nation who won $5,000 college scholarships from Sun Life Financial, violence out 1,200 other teens.
“Winning this only creates me not wish to give adult when things get hard,” pronounced Shelton, 19, who is study early childhood growth during Borough of Manhattan Community College.
But Shelton struggled before winning a grant – starting with her uneasy family’s eviction from a Bronx unit dual years ago.
They changed into a Downtown Brooklyn city preserve before relocating into a Brownsville unit this summer. Because of a turmoil, it took 5 years and dual schools before Shelton graduated from high school.
“Struggling, going behind and onward with life is hard, and it’s good to know someone cared adequate to wish to assistance me serve my education,” Shelton said.
The highway to college was also prolonged for New York University tyro Diallo, 18, whose relatives came to Rego Park from Guinea. Her mom took jobs as a home health help and her father gathering a clothing cab – withdrawal Diallo in assign of lifting her 3 brothers.
“I know how to prepare now since of it,” pronounced Diallo, who graduated from Bard High School Early College. “I picked them adult after school, done certain they did their homework, put them to bed – and afterwards we did my work.”
Diallo is now study sociology during NYU and feels prepared after putting in years of prolonged hours sophistry her possess studies with her brothers’ care.
College seemed out of a doubt for Lawson, 19, who changed to 139th St. and Lenox Ave. from South America in 2008, mislaid his mom to cancer a few months after and had to get adult to speed academically in a unwell school.
“It was a tough enlightenment thing,” pronounced Lawson, who had to get used to New York life when he initial arrived. “I had problem anticipating places so we was always relying on people to give me directions.”
Even yet he came to New York academically unprepared, Lawson – who is now during Syracuse University – was dynamic to make it to a four-year college and spent hours reading, doing math problems and being tutored during a East Harlem Tutorial Program during Second Ave. and 105th St.