Two Central High School students beat the odds to graduate and
now look to the future
Morgan Hill – The unfaltering faith of a high school principal, the lack of educational opportunities for one Hispanic family, a friend’s desire to serve his country and transcending people’s opinions can all be credited to the graduation of two Central Continuation High School students.
Jessie Robles and Alley Rosen beat the odds after falling behind in their studies, relying on not only their own strength, but the strengths of teachers and their school principal to participate in the pomp and circumstance march.
Their roads to Central were different, but the outcomes the same.
Robles thought a social life was more important than his education. Rosen got sick and turned to Central to make up the work she lost – she loved it so much, she never left.
They fell behind in their classes and discovered the traditional high school setting was not for them.
NEW ATTITUDE
Robles, a happy-go-lucky, clean-cut 18-year-old, repeated the eighth grade at Britton Middle School because he wanted to hang out with his friends rather than concentrate on school.
After enrolling at Central, Robles began taking extra classes, worked full time and tried to obtain his high school diploma.
In two years he finished three years of high school work.
Central High School Principal Irene Macias-Morriss said that Robles realized that the key to a future was through education.
“He always struggled in school, even elementary school was not easy for him,” Macias-Morriss said. “He came to Central determined that this was something he wanted to get out of the way.”
Gail Webb, a math teacher at Central Continuation High School, said that she saw Robles change the most in the past year after his friend, Bryan Gracia, graduated and went into the marines.
“I think Jessie looked at Bryan and said ‘if he can do it, I can do it,’ ” Webb said. “So he buckled down and worked through whatever bumps in the road he hit.”
Robles said passing the high school exit exam was also a big part in his drive to finish school.
Robles’ mother and brother are the only ones in his family who have completed high school. The lack of educational opportunities in his family became a big motivator for him, he said.
Robles plans to attend Heald College in San Jose to work on a degree in business. He has received nearly $2,000 in scholarships from the college and from a federally funded Pell Grant.
The journey through Central was made easier, the students said, thanks to their relationships with Macias-Morriss, who had been their principal when they attended P.A. Walsh Elementary School.
Robles and Rosen said that as children, they were frightened by their principal, but now see her as a mentor and someone whom they can rely on.
A DIFFERENT STYLE
Rosen, 18, said she never quite assimilated into the high school environment.
Dressed in a Gothic style, claw-like earrings in her ears and blonde hair dyed black, she stood out and wasn’t accepted by her peers.
During her junior year at Live Oak High School, Rosen contracted mono and fell behind in her credits. Her brother had attended Central and knew she could go there to make up her lost work.
However, when Rosen began attending Central, she liked the environment and the people better and decided not to return to Live Oak.
Webb said the students looked past their circumstances to graduate from high school.
“For Alley, it is be your own person,” Webb said. “You can be straight-laced, prim and proper or be total Goth kid and be given the same opportunity to excel … Our model should be no matter who you are when walk through the door, you will still be given the same opportunity.”
Macias-Morriss said Rosen kept a good attitude at Central and stopped caring about what other people thought of her.
“She is such a positive person,” Macias-Morriss said. “She never looks at the bad side of life. She said, ‘Well, people think I’m different, but this is who I am.’ And she just kept plugging away.”
Webb said Rosen dedicated herself to her school work.
“She had the goal of ‘OK, I’m here. I want to get my credits and graduate early. I want to get this done and I don’t want my past habits to haunt me. I can do this and feel good about myself,’ ” Webb said.
Central Continuation High School English teacher Ken Piccolo met the students this year and was impressed with how polite they were.
“I found them to be hard working, dedicated, respectful and very mature,” Piccolo said. “Those two alone were always ‘yes,’ ‘please and thank you.’ They just had a lot of respect. They showed an enormous amount of work ethic to get out early.”
Rosen hopes to take her different style and apply that at Gavilan College where she plans to study cosmetology. She wants to be a hair dresser.
Robles and Rosen said Central requires far more work that what other students in a traditional high school setting have to do.
“Students (normally) have a semester to learn the different subjects; we have to know the subjects in six weeks and be able to answer questions about them,” Rosen said. “We need to do all that work, plus the work we need to catch up on. I was taking eight classes at once in a four-period day.”
Through their two years at Central, Robles and Rosen said they would never have made it if they were not dedicated to their studies.
Rosen added that students need to leave their egos and pride behind when they enter Central.
Macias-Morriss said the students grew tremendously during their time at Central and is sad to see them go.
“It took a while for them, everyone matures at own their rate,” Macias-Morriss said. “They don’t think like high school kids anymore. We’re sending them off to real life now. … It’s kind of emotional for all of us – they are like my children.”
Cheeto Barrera is an intern at the Morgan Hill Times. He can be reached at 779-4106 or e-mail cb******@mo*************.com.
