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So, as we do every year, we pull a few from the crowd to
highlight and we do so without any specific criteria. These
few just caught our eye after consulting with groups such as
Toledo EXCEL, 50 Men and Women, Toledo Public Schools, to
name a few.
But there are a few stories here that, as always, prompted
us to rejoice and none of them so much as our student of the
year, the valedictorian of his class at Scott High School,
and a future engineer, Brandon Sanders.
Sanders recently wrote an essay about his journey to the top
of his class.
“HOW I BECAME THE PERSON I AM TODAY”
The beginning of my life started when I was about six
years old when my mother was sent to jail. At the time I
didn’t know she was a drug dealer and that’s why the police
came to my house and took her from me and my younger
brothers and sister. Immediately after she left, my siblings
and I were separated from each other and stayed with family
members. I knew my father, but at the time, he was a drug
addict and he could not take care of me. I was only in
kindergarten, but I went to three different schools in one
year which caused me to fail. It was a very hard time for me
knowing I was the oldest and could do nothing about the
situation. From what I remember, I cried myself to sleep
almost every night wishing I would wake up and everything
would be a dream.
Over the two years she was gone, I matured a lot trying
to be the older brother to my younger brother who stayed
with me for a little while. His father was never there as
well so I tried my best to comfort him as much as possible.
As the months went on I could never stop thinking about the
day she would come home and our family would be whole again.
One day my aunt came to get my younger brother and I from
day care to tell us our mom is at home waiting for us. When
we arrived everyone was already there and we ran to my mom
as fast as we could because we thought it was too good to be
true.
I finally started to see my father, he was married and
his new wife already had three children. When I was with
them I was always made the black sheep and I had to go
through situations like sleeping on a cold basement floor
without a blanket and pillow and starving at times wishing I
was back at home with my mom. Later as I grew up I became
stronger and smarter from events like this taking place in
my life. I found out I was smart when I was the only student
in my sixth grade class of about 28 kids who passed all five
parts of the proficiency test. After that year I stayed on
top of my grades, played several sports, and I stayed away
from the gangs and drugs that terrorized my neighborhood.
After failing kindergarten, Sanders eventually found his
academic bearings, especially after he arrived at Scott High
School and finished his four-year career there with a 4.2
grade point average.
His inspiration at Scott was Trevor Black, who was his
advisor for the four years. “She was encouraging,” said
Sanders. “She knew what was going on at home. She was like a
god mom to me and someone I will never forget.”
Sanders will be entering The University of Toledo this fall
and plans on majoring in engineering although he is not yet
sure on which area of engineering he will concentrate. UT
has started a new program titled MedStart which will enable
Sanders to focus on bio-engineering and allow him a leg up
on getting into medical school.
Sanders, however, gives much credit to his mother for her
inspiration as well. From the moment she returned home from
prison, he said, she impressed upon him the value of an
education. Over the years, Brandon’s mother, Schnell
Sanders, has had her share of medical difficulties and the
family has been mired in deep poverty, but the extended
family has rallied around Brandon and helped to keep him
focused.
However, nothing kept him more focused, he said, than the
poverty. His determination to escape those circumstances was
a powerful impetus to excel.
Arturo Ordonez also has a compelling story. Ordonez
graduated with a 4.1 grade point average from Libbey High
School. As was the situation with Sanders, he got off to a
slow start but, also like Sanders, Ordonez was the
valedictorian of his class and will be attending UT this
fall to major in engineering.
Ordonez entered the first grade unable to speak a word of
English. The language barrier was a problem for Ordonez for
the first three years of school but by the fourth and fifth
grade, he recalls, he started to get his bearings.
And what inspired Ordonez to achieve academically? In spite
of the language issue, his parents, Mariza Ordonez and
Arnulso Fonseca, “stressed the importance of education and
being the best I can be.” In addition, a visit from Libbey
High School seniors to his third grade class helped a lot as
well. One of those visitors was the valedictorian and when
it was explained to the class what that meant, Ordonez knew
what his academic goal would be. He was determined from that
point on to become the valedictorian of his own graduating
class. Mission accomplished.
Ordonez credits his math teacher of three years, Shari
McCourt, in making sure “that I never gave up and
encourag[ing] me to do my best.” McCourt has told Ordonez
that even when he moves on to UT, she will be there to help
when he needs it.
In addition to his academic achievements, Ordonez was also
the senior class vice president and treasurer of the student
council.
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