THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

These neighborhood high-school seniors are going far

Story by Rachel Stone | Photos by Can Türkyilmaz

THE STATE OF TEXAS HAS CUT EDUCATION SPENDING DRASTICALLY.

The Dallas school district has more failing schools than are rated Exemplary by the Texas Education Agency. And sometimes it seems like all the youth of America is going the way of TV’s “Jersey Shore.” That is, they’re narcissistic, promiscuous and disrespectful of themselves and others.

But all of America’s youth are not trashy reality-TV character wannabes. Some of them are great kids, even in the face of adversity.

The following stories showcase a few delightful neighborhood students who have overcome the odds to become successful, college-bound high-school seniors. They prove there is hope after all.

Girl Scouts, the premiere leadership organization for girls and the largest pipeline for female leadership in the world, is celebrating 100 years of Girl Scouting in 2012!

Meet us at the State Fair of Texas in 2012 for an amazing Girl Scout Centennial Exhibition at the Hall of State!

For more information visit: www.gsnetx.org

ElizabethCampos

From the ages of 8-18, Elizabeth Campos lived in foster homes throughout Texas. Some were group homes, some were private homes with foster parents. None of the experiences was horrific, Campos says, but she lived with virtual strangers in seven Texas towns over those 10 years, always just a little out of place.

Campos and her siblings entered the foster care system after her mom was deported to Mexico. She remarried and was never heard from again. Campos’s dad is serving a lengthy prison sentence for child abuse.

At first, Campos and her brother, who is two years younger, were together. But one day when she was about 9, a foster parent took her to get ice cream, and when they returned she learned her brother had been taken to live hundreds of miles away. It was devastating at the time.

“We were really close,” she says.

Happily, that brother now lives on a 20acre ranch south of Dallas, and Campos, who has “aged out” of foster care, lives with relatives near Sunset High School. She also has two older sisters, including one who has special needs and lives in a state hospital. A younger sister had a closed adoption.

There are about 25,000 children in foster care in Texas, and most of them change schools at least half a dozen times before 12th grade. Foster kids are less likely to graduate from high school, and fewer than 3 percent of the approximately 800,000 foster kids nationwide are expected graduate from college with a four-year degree.

Campos intends to be one of them. She says her last foster mom, Anne Butch, encouraged her to pursue education.

“I never wanted to go to college,” Campos says. “But she told me, ‘Don’t be a victim; do something to help yourself.’ ”

Jaslyn Greene of Advise Texas helped Campos with college financial aid applications and says she has a lot of determination.

“She knows college is her way out,” Greene says. “She knows there’s something better out there, and she just has to go and seek it.”

After Campos graduates from Sunset this month, she plans to attend El Centro and then transfer to a four-year university to study architecture or graphic design.

“I want to be able to take care of my sisters and brother,” she says.