From Homeless at 17 to Graduating with Honors

Everyone knows that adolescence can be a turbulent time, but few people can relate to experiences nearly as drastic and life-changing as those experienced by Alexis Machado. The 2014 March Mountain High School graduate recently told the National Education Association (NEA) conference about how an NEA-supported collaborative program at her school, which brings together teachers, staff and students, completely turned her life around. Machado held the conference spellbound with her story of moving from home to home and city to city during her teen years. With her mother out reliving her youth and her father out of the picture, Alexis mentioned how she had to step up to take care of her siblings. After stating that she would be better off without Alexis in her life, her mother finally threw her out of her San Bernardino home at age 17. Suddenly, Alexis was on her own with nowhere to go and no hope for her future. Machado found refuge with former neighbors in Moreno Valley, and with hopes of rebuilding her life, enrolled at March Mountain High School, where teachers were waiting to help with the REALS program, which stands for Resources, Environment, Achievement, Life-long learners and Students. REALS, begun at March Mountain in 2010 through a federal School Improvement Grant and strongly supported by the NEA’s Priority Schools Program, is comprised of collaborative teacher/staff/student committees empowered to create needed classes and take other actions, finding ways to open doors of opportunity for students by responding to their real needs. “There are so many students like Alexis with an abundance of intelligence and drive who are struggling to succeed through no fault of their own,” explained Machado's Advisory teacher Julie Alexander. “We knew that with a program like REALS we could better respond to students’ real immediate and longer-term needs. Alexis is a great example of how effective it is.” Since she had moved around so much, many of the credits Alexis was supposed to have on her transcript were lost, and she found herself far behind in school. So one of the first things REALS did was hunt down her missing credits so Machado could focus on her new classes and her future. Machado’s view about school and her future began to change. “I started to learn more about myself and what I wanted to do with my life. Little by little, these exercises helped me change my actions,” Alexis said. “I felt happier. Every day... I had a big smile on my face.” Soon, Alexis was elected ASB President, and joined the Yearbook Club where she helped improve its product. Both ASB and the Yearbook Club were brought to MMHS by the REALS program. She went on to be named March Mountain Student of the Month and Student of the Year. Now, Machado is considering a variety of positive options for her future. “If I traveled back three years and told myself, ‘You are going to be successful in school, graduate on honor roll and end your high school career by giving a speech in front of a thousand people,'” Alexis told the conference, “I would simply smile, give myself a little pat on the shoulder and say, ‘Of course I am. I got REAL.’”