Forced to Grow up Fast, Karry Calderon Stays Focused on Academics
When Karry Calderon’s mother dropped her and her three sisters off at school last year, Karry had no idea she wouldn’t see her mother again for months. Karry would later learn that her mother had been incarcerated, leaving her four children—now ages 14 through 18—in the care of other family members. Karry’s father had already been deported back to the family’s native country, the Dominican Republic.
“We had to grow up really fast,” Karry said.
Besides their schoolwork, the girls had to do most of the housework and help pay the bills. Nonetheless, Karry—now a senior at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Queens—remained committed to her crew team, rowing five days a week, and continued taking the most difficult courses at her school. She earned top grades and is now a candidate for the International Baccalaureate Diploma, conferred to students who successfully complete a curriculum globally recognized as exceptionally rigorous.
“Sometimes I wouldn’t show up to school. Sometimes I didn’t feel like getting out of bed,” Karry said. “But my guidance counselor and principal really helped me. They always talked to me.”
Karry will be attending Bryn Mawr College on a scholarship next fall, where she hopes to study either science or visual arts.
Emerging from Civil War, George Tarr Becomes Advocate for Refugees
George Tarr never knew his parents. He was born in Liberia during the country’s first Civil War, and before his first birthday, his father and grandfather were killed due to the conflict. George’s mother left him to be raised by his grandmother when he was just five months old. Although he met his mother briefly when he was six, she has since passed away as well.
George moved with his grandmother to Staten Island when he was seven and had to adjust to life in a new country. During the day, he attends Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School, but he devotes his spare time to studying international diplomacy and assisting refugees. As the youngest board member of the organization African Refuge, and as a volunteer for the International Rescue Committee, he works with youth in classrooms and helps develop services to support refugees.
Although he is not yet an American citizen, George routinely woke up at five a.m. to campaign door-to-door for Barack Obama in 2008. And after winning an essay contest, George attended President Obama’s inauguration, calling the event one of the best experiences of his life. A voracious reader and history lover, he said that President Obama’s book Dreams from My Father is among his favorites.
“The only way I could escape the negative things around me was to read a lot, and that’s what I’d do—I’d read, read, read,” he said. “Knowing your background is very important in life, because you have to discover yourself if you want to know who you are.”
George wants to work for the United Nations after completing his education so he can advocate for victims of civil unrest around the globe. In the meantime, he plans to study international political economy and diplomacy at the University of Bridgeport beginning this fall.
Tiffany Parker Overcomes Accident on Way to Becoming Medical Examiner
Like many other students, Tiffany Parker celebrated when she passed her global history Regents exam—with a score of 90—during her sophomore year. But unlike many other students, Tiffany had studied for the exam from a hospital bed.
Walking along a street near her home in the Bronx one afternoon earlier that year, Tiffany was run over by a drunk driver behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle. Her injuries included a broken collarbone and a fractured pelvis, and Tiffany was in the hospital for two weeks. After returning from the hospital, Tiffany was bedridden at home and had to re-learn how to walk because her injuries were so extensive. Although she missed two months of school, Tiffany worked with a tutor and disciplined herself to make sure she kept up with her schoolwork every single day.
This past November, Tiffany gave birth to a boy, Zane, who was born prematurely—weighing just over two pounds—because of complications from Tiffany’s car accident. Tiffany studied for the SATs from her hospital bed and took them only two days after being released. Zane had to stay in the hospital for two months. Since his birth, Tiffany has juggled many responsibilities, including caring for Zane, tutoring first graders after school, and completing her own school work.
“I just had to do it. I didn’t want to mess up,” Tiffany said. “My education determines where Zane is going to be in the future. I knew I had to get it together.”
Tiffany, who chose her high school—the Collegiate Institute for Math and Science—because she loves chemistry, aspires to become a medical examiner. She will begin her studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the fall.