Meet a Graduate!
Meet one of PHA’s graduating seniors-Neil! He is pictured above with PHA Case Manager, La Shawn.
Neil is not only graduating high school with a 4.0 but doing it all in 3 years! When he was a freshman and first met with La Shawn, he told him he needed to finish early so he could start working sooner and help his mom pay her bills. Neil would wake up at 4 am every day to catch the bus from his motel room in Anaheim, to make it to school in Costa Mesa on time. When schools were closed, he would take the bus to PHA’s Distance Learning Center for tutoring and academic support.
Neil met with La Shawn often, whether it was to fill out scholarship applications, get some homework help, or just a friendly game of chess. It was the constant support from La Shawn that Neil credits to why he was able to graduate early. Despite experiencing trauma, housing insecurity, transportation barriers, and school closures, he did it. La Shawn has the honor of cheering him on at graduation today.
Neil recently received a $16,000 scholarship from Simon Scholars and will begin nursing school in the Fall. We are so excited to celebrate with him and the rest of our grads today!
You can help PHA recognize their graduating seniors by donating a gift card for them! Click Here
*names have been changed to protect privacy of our students
