|
|
 |
Nicole Herrera
8th Grader, St. Brigid School
One of Nicole Herrera's recent 7th grade assignments was to put the goals of her
school, St. Brigid, into her own words. "Be a diligent worker. Be a respectful
citizen. Be an active Christian," wrote Nicole. And apparently, that's just
how Nicole conducts herself. According to Sister Carmen Santiuste, St.
Brigid's principal, "Those qualities describe her perfectly. She is a wonderful
person."
Quick to smile, 13-year old Nicole is an honor student who tutors younger
students after school and loves basketball and volleyball. "I really like
literature class," she says. "I won the poetry contest this year. I wrote
about peace in the world." She and her sister, Miranda, an 8th grader at
St. Brigid, are both Guardsmen scholarship recipients. Without the Guardsmen
stipend, the girls would attend one of the worst-performing public middle
schools in San Francisco.
Says Nicole's mom, "I'm so grateful that my kids can attend St. Brigid.
They receive so much more attention than in public school. And Nicole is
already in algebra. They're like little sponges. It's a miracle every
day." Nicole's mom, who manages a hardware store, carefully budgets to
come up with her share of the girls' tuition.
Her husband and the girls' father, John, died last year after waiting
four years for a liver transplant. He had contracted Hepatitis C after
a blood transfusion and then developed liver cancer. "When my husband
became ill," Nicole's mother says, "we decided to do everything possible
to keep Nicole and Miranda at St. Brigid. We have been really blessed."
|
|
