Education
Memorial HS student first in family to attend college, will go to Yale
Alejandra Salazar, 18, was accepted into 2 Ivy League schools
By Tiffany Huertas – Video Journalist

SAN ANTONIO – A Memorial High School student will be the first in her family to not only attend college, but also go to an Ivy League school.

Alejandra Salazar, 18, has been accepted into two Ivy league schools and has decided to go to Yale. And while poverty and different obstacles in life affect many students, Salazar said she hopes her individual story will help another student like her in the future.
 “When you are going out and pursuing your educational goals, never place limits on your self,” Salazar said. “Chances are you not truly aware of how much ability you have to achieve what you want to do.”

Salazar said during the application process she knew right away that her life story was a great fit for her college essay topic.

“I wrote about my mother who currently works really hard and found her own opportunities by working at the flea market,” Salazar said.

Salazar’s mother and father have always pushed her and her brother to succeed. So when her father lost his second job last year it was her mother that stepped up.

“She took the initiative to find that job and create the opportunity for herself,” Salazar said.

The high school senior stressed she simply took advantage of her given opportunities. Salazar has been involved in both the speech and debate team along with the STEM program as well during her high school career.

from : KSAT 12

The Reunion

  At the Historical Cadillac bar Just behind the court house “The Reunion” played to a small yet warm audience.

  Newly form, band came together by a rather an unusual way.

I ask Steven Martinez (lead rhythm guitar) how the band came about. Steve said simply “We had a family reunion and we needed music. I, and Cousin James Martinez and others decided to play and entertain our families.

  We had such a good time playing. We did not want to stop. We were encouraged to “Keep on going”

And here we are. We just hand our band one year anniversary this past April.

 We have not been together for very long. The hardest thing to do is finding the time for practice.

 I ask what kind of music you like to preform “80’s 90’s and early 2000 Alternative Rock is what we do”.

 Songs from such artists as Green Day, Nirvana, Violent Femmes, Nine Inch Nails

   The Reunion had a small glitch just before the band was to start to play. No cymbals for the drums. It’s kind of hard to play rock music without them.20 minutes later. They got back on track.

Hard driving rock was on tap that night. The group played well together. Like a fine wine. With a little bit of aging I see them getting even better. If you like alternative rock then I am sure that you will like this rock band.

Look for them at your local venue

Band Members:

Steve Martinez,           Lead-rhythm guitar

 Frank Rodriguez        Vocal-Lead-rhythm guitar

James Martinez            Bass-guitar back backing vocal

R.J Sanchez                 Drums Back backing vocal

  For booking and more information….

 Thereunionsa@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/thereunion15

https://www.reverbnation.com/thereunionsa

River City Attractions

Story and pictures by Joseph Martinez

Think your 18-year-old who has just picked their college is some kind of brainiac?

Then consider Indiana’s Raven Osborne.

Osborne, who has been taking college classes part-time, is about to graduate from college — before she gets her high school diploma.

And now she is going to be a teacher at the same high school.

Osborne, a senior at the 895-student 21st Century Charter School in Gary, will earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in early childhood education from Purdue University Northwest on May 5, then graduate from high school on May 22.

“Yeah, they think I’m lying,” Raven told CBS News.

It’s true. According to the Big Ten Network (BTN), Osborne began taking classes at a local community college as a freshman and soon earned an associate’s degree in general studies. Then, encouraged by her mother, Hazel Osborne, and 21st Century’s president and superintendent, Kevin Teasley, she decided to become the first in the school’s history to earn a bachelor’s degree while still enrolled.

“When I was a younger, I was labeled with a learning disability,” Osborne told the Northwest Indiana Post-Tribune in 2016.

Osborne told the Post-Tribune it was tough taking both high school and college classes and that there were times when she wanted to quit, but her mother constantly encouraged her.

“My mother always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do in life,” she told the paper.

While at Purdue Northwest, which is in nearby Hammond, Osborne stood out to faculty and staff, BTN reported.

“She not only is academically gifted, but has demonstrated amazing intellectual maturity in her pursuit of a baccalaureate degree at Purdue Northwest,” Purdue Northwest spokesman Wes Lukoshus told the Northwest Indiana Times.

Meanwhile, Purdue associate professor of sociology Ralph Cherry, who had Osborne last spring in a class on research methods, said he did not realize that she was a high school student

“Research methods is the most demanding class that I teach,” he told the Times.

If all that wasn’t enough, Osborne, who will turn 19 in August, was also striving to earn money.

“At one point, I also tried to work a job,” she told the Times. “I was working a midnight shift at a day care center. I just had to watch the children while they were sleeping, then feed them breakfast when they woke up. It was a daycare for parents who worked a night shift. It just got to be too stressful, and I had to resign.”

But now she will be pulling down a salary: She has been hired by the school and will be an early interventionist with elementary-age children, earning more than $30,000 a year, the paper reported.

Not a bad paycheck for a recent college graduate and an even better one for a just-graduated high-schooler

by Matthew Diebel: USA Today