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wasn’t bullied or harassed, really.

“It was within myself. I was scared and isolated.”

Things improved when her father, a teacher, found work in Boston. There she finally made friends and gained self-esteem.

“Math and science were my best subjects. In my country, I was failing math, but it turned out it was because the teachers couldn’t teach. Here, I am like, wow, I can do math, and in fact I am really good at it.”

Then, Dad announced that they were moving to Dallas. It was her sophomore year and she was again alone and confused in a strange place. (Of course, she was now a little closer to Houston-based NASA, she conceded). But the students and staff at Lake Highlands, she says, were nice.

Sometimes cerebral palsy, a brain and central nervous system disorder, causes cognitive problems, but Kerutheha is sharp, and she thrived into Advanced Placement classes. She says she did not necessarily mean to enroll as a sophomore in classes with juniors and seniors — it really was an accident — but it worked out.

Recently she met with a team of doctors at Dallas Children’s Hospital to discuss the possibility of surgery to give her limited use of her left arm. “If it worked, it could allow me to move left and right but not up and down,” she explains. “But there are risks.”

She admits to being petrified because if something should go wrong with the operation, she could suffer more damage, lose the use of her leg or even end up in a wheelchair. She must decide before the year’s end, she says, or she will be too old for the treatment.

She recalls times when, at her old school, though she is a pretty good singer, she was not picked for parts because of her condition. She does not try out for roles these days. But she chooses not to dwell on all those things too much. Instead she concentrates on what she does have — a strong side, a good arm, a sense of humor — and on helping others.

Kerutheha spends a large chunk of time tutoring other students. She says helping others makes her feel normal.

She is generally more confident and selfassured than she once thought possible, and she credits the AVID program and her family. “I feel like I can do anything right now,” she says. She beams when speaking about her parents and teachers — she could never name a favorite.

“I love every one of them,” she says.

She does mention Ms. (Candice) Nichols, who she says never shows any negativity. “She is always positive and radiant,” Kerutheha says.

“That is what I want to be like. Everyone thinks I am always happy, but I am not. I can be serious. It is not good. I have seen myself serious, in the mirror, and I do not like it.”

Nichols says her student is one of a kind — a charismatic and determined dreamer, she says. Earlier this year, she recalls, Keruthrea gave a speech at the Lake Highlands Exchange Club (where she was receiving an award) about how much her parents had done for her

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and how nothing would stop her from repaying them.

“She wrung our hearts when she talked about how hard they both worked to support the family, and they couldn’t always make ends meet,” Nichols says. “Then she filled us with pride as she described her determination to, ‘do something no one has even thought to do before,’ so that she could buy her parents a big house and a new car and everything they could want ... Keruthea is proof that the American Dream is real; she is proof that if you work hard, and keep pushing forward regardless of the obstacles, you can achieve anything.”

After a couple of semesters at Richland, she plans to attend the University of North Texas or the University of Texas at Arlington, where she will study biochemistry and biophysics, and learn skills that will come in handy when she applies to NASA.

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