An Education

Sometimes the toughest lessons are learned outside the classroom

High school and our experiences there often leave lifelong memories. Or scars. Imagine navigating those formative and frequently frustrating years while bearing an extraordinary burden — illness, disability, poverty, homelessness, parental abandonment or death, for example. The graduating seniors featured herein have endured a lifetime’s worth of adversity in their 18 years. In spite of, or possibly partly because of these challenges, they have managed to shine.

MEET TOMORROW’S LEADERS.

Chima Nsi, Kimball High School

Linda Hardeman lost her job when her son, Chima Nsi, was in eighth grade. Having previously gotten by from paycheck to paycheck, the family was forced to move out of their apartment and into an emergency shelter.