1. Immigrated at a young age and was engaged with school and life in the U.S. until he got involved with gang activities that led him down the wrong path.

2. Struggles and Aspirations with moving to the U.S. both for the mother and son, The loyalty to family, and how his family influenced his involvement in gang activities

3. He started well in school and had potential according to those around him but after having a lack of support from the education system, family challenges, and personal choices, his path was shaped differently.

4. We disagree because even after making some bad choices, at the end of the text he still has aspirations and speaks about going to college and starting a family.

5. Group Members: Jesus Marquez, Nur Qazi, Lyndsey Narvaez, Giuseppe Bravo, Samantha Zavaleta, Citlali Rodriguez, Celeste Torres, Athena Skiathitis

1. Overview Story

   1. Rosa had a large family that immigrated from Guadalajara 

      1. Migrated to California under the belief of going to “Disneyland,” 

         1. helps to remove shock from migration. 

         2. The overarching story of Rosa was how hard she worked to succeed, she went to tutoring and always put effort into her education 

         3. She became an engineering major and secured a full scholarship at a four-year university (332). 

2. Particular Experiences

   1. The parents enforced education on their children as they worked many long hours to financially support them. Providing their children with the necessary tools to succeed such as a computer and much more. 

   2. Rosa was part of a big family that immigrated to California and that also suffered a social status change. In Mexico, their parents had higher status jobs, as her mom owned a Pharmacy and her Dad worked in commerce. 

   3. The director from Upward Bound became a close friend and supporter of Rosa

   4. Family acted as a support system and highly valued education. 

   5. She also went to school where the majority of her classmates were of similar background so she was able to build stronger relationships both with her classmates and teachers .

   6. Rosa was also proactive in her education, becoming involved in after-school programs like Alma Latina and Upward Bound. 

      1. She also organized an advanced Physics class. 

3. Why is Rosa classified as a “high achiever?”

   1. Rosa is classified as a high achiever because she was able to become valedictorian of her high school despite her backgrounds. 

   2. Her family also works and base their income off of low wages in order to provide for their family. As the eldest daughter in a Hispanic family she takes on quite a few roles such as being a model for her siblings. While she focuses primarily on her education, with the support of her parents she can do well in school. 

   3. Determined in every aspect of her studies. She and another student got together and were able to call in a nearby physics professor that was able to teach physics to the class

   4. The concluding quote of the chapter also indicates why Rosa is considered a “high achiever:” “Rosa is now majoring in engineering at the same university where her father works as a janitor” (342).

4. Do you agree or disagree with this classification? When responding, rely on your own experience. 

   1. I agree with this classification because she got recognized for all of the hardships she had to go through and all the hard work she had to put in. The fact that she excelled academically under the circumstances she was in was very impressive and it definitely deserves some recognition.

   2. I agree with this classification because she was named valedictorian of her school. Additionally, she received high marks in college prep courses.

   3. I agree with this classification because she works with her peers and educators to help her overcome her obstacles. She does not let her financial background and her immigration status hold her back from achieving her greatest potential. Despite all these obstacles she is able to go to college. 

   4. Rosa is also a notable high achiever in becoming a STEM major for engineering by being accepted by a research university. Not only was she accepted, but she received a scholarship, as mentioned above.

• Rosette is a young Haitian immigrant in the United States who endured a traumatic childhood marked by violence, fear, and a beaten and mentally ill mother. Despite these challenges, Rosette matures early, develops a strong social consciousness, and maintains a deep connection to her Haitian identity. Rosette’s journey goes from the difficulties of adjusting to American culture to finding academic success as an honor student at Reade. Rosette navigates the complexities of her personal and academic life by using education as a means of control and a way to please her stern father. Rosette’s resourcefulness in engaging with supportive figures, such as her Haitian counselor, teachers, and research assistant, contributes to her emotional sustenance and guidance. Additionally, her leadership role in the Haitian Club gives her a sense of purpose, ethnic pride, and a supportive network of relationships. Rosette demonstrated resilience and determination by overcoming adversity and trying to make a positive impact on her life and community.

2. Are there any particular experiences that stood out to you in the story of your student that affected her schooling experiences?

• I believe the support system she had from her attentive school counselor and her access to her background through the Haitian club at her high school, were helpful in her improvement and engagement in school.l

• A particular experience that stood out to me in the story was when she conversed with her father about what career/major she wanted to pursue and if he was proud of her affected her schooling experience. He acknowledged that he was proud of her and supported any pathway she decided to take. This allowed her to feel better to pursue and finish her education. Her father also constantly reminded her and felt that education was more important than working

• One thing that stood out to me was despite the challenges faced by many Haitian families, such as limited parental involvement due to work schedules and cultural differences, the school strives to create a supportive environment. The building is adorned with representations of Haitian history, including murals depicting struggles for civil rights and freedom.

• One experience of Rosette I think affected her schooling experience was her relationship/desire for a relationship with her mother. In her “profile”, it is mentioned that her mother and her father’s family had a rocky relationship where they essentially “kicked her out”. Rosette expresses how her mother’s absence is a big factor in her life. She mentioned how she wants to be successful to help her mom and sponsor her to come to the U.S. With this goal in mind, Rosette most likely put in more effort at school.

3. Why do the authors classify your student in the group in which they did (improver)

• The authors classify Rosette as an improver because when she first attended middle school, teachers would report how she was disruptive, disobedient, and having academic difficulties, and even often called to the school office.

• However, she showed improvement with an attitude change regarding school once she got to high school- teachers now reported that she was attentive and involved in her academic work, and teachers can see her putting in effort; she even developed relationships with adults at school (such as a Haitian school counselor)

• The story reflects her dedication to education and the values adopted by her family. Her commitment to cultural origins, combined with the support of her family and the positive school environment, contributes to their success. The narrative highlights the resilience and determination of 2nd gen immigrants, showcasing how they navigate challenges and excel academically. 

4. Do you agree or disagree with the authors' classification? And, when stating your opinion, please rely on (if applicable) your own experiences to support your thoughts.

• Perhaps. Rosette improved her life and found some sense of purpose in her U.S. school life, but we don’t really know if she ended up becoming a doctor and helping her beaten mother.

• Additionally, Rosette showed improvement that was noticed by her teachers, as they shared that Rosette was “attentive, asked questions, and made a good effort,” and was also able to build strong relationships with her teachers. Which is a huge improvement to her rocky start (her teachers reported she was “disruptive.. And had academic difficulties” prior to Reade High School).

2.) One experience that stood out to me was the fact her mother forced her to stay indoors before they moved for the first time because of the amount of criminal activity that was active and she associated that we the high number of African Americans in the novel, she also witnessed a gang jumping a guy while living their.

3.) I believe this student is classified as a high achiever because of her means to get every form of work done even if it's not something she seemed interested in. It almost seemed like she was mainly doing a lot of things because of her mother's expectations of doing them.

4.) I don't disagree with the author's classification because coming from a first-generation college student background I can see how you're parents would expect very highly of you since you have been given a better chance at getting a successful life than your parents did when living in a foreign and less developed country. Most parents expect their children to be doctors, lawyers, or highly respected jobs that hold a good reputation for society but it is these enforcement of expectations that cause students to overachieve because they sometimes feel the need to or else they have failed them as their daughter or son.

ii. The main issue that we saw that affected Marieli's schooling experience was her relationship with her mother. One particular passage highlighted how Marieli felt like nobody could help her since her mother's English proficiency and academic knowledge was so low that "If I [Marieli] don't understand, there isn't anything to help me. So why bother?" as she proceeded to throw away all of her homework. Marieli could not find any comfort or support from her working mother as their relationship had been severed so severely due to feelings of abandonment and perhaps even jealousy that her mom decided to have another child in the U.S.

iii. The authors classified the student in the Declining Achievement group because her decline in school was due to her extreme pessimism towards her education and the U.S. as a whole. She also insinuates that she misses her home and school life in Guatemala, saying that the teachers in Guatemala were better at helping students learn. We see her decline in motivation and performance as she grows older, nearing the end of the story. She loses her hopes and dreams to go to community college and becoming a Veterinarian. It had even gotten to the point where her school and teachers lost hope in her.

iv. We agree with the author's classification, especially that she had a precipitous decline. The feelings of resentment were so overwhelming that she had a steeper decline near the end of her high school career. She did have a beneficial schooling experience before high school, which gave her hope and motivation to do well. However, once she lost that motivation, there wasn't much support that could help her regain it.

v. Group: Michelle Nguyen, Melody Charres, Ana Paola Gaytan, Isis Gabriela Mejia, Jason Lee, Jay M Dick, Jennifer Raya, Lina Sumin Cho

2) It was surprising to learn so late into the portrait, and in the study itself, that Mauricio's step-father and mother divorced, which is speculated to be an underlying reason for his emotional distance and his negative behaviors in school. The mother also emphasized to Mauricio that his financial habits is inherently harming the family (i.e. buying clothes, spoiling his girlfriends, etc) which could may have caused him to rebel even more. We also feel sad about the fact that all of the culminating factors in his education experience, and the persisting lack of motivation, eventually led Mauricio to drop out of school. It's a very sharp turn from how he used to excel academically.

3) The authors classify our student as a declining achiever because over the course of the study, Mauricio began as a well-behaved, bright, and engaged student. However, due to the enduring factors over the course of his educational experience (i.e. family, race, neglectful teachers, etc), his performance and behavior and overall motivation in school begins to decline. It's interesting how the author's noted the Mauricio's commentary about school improved the more distance be placed with it. "... year after year, he made positive statements about school, but after a while this stops translating into motivation and engagement" (p 200). The authors describe that his optimism continued to increase as his motivation decreased.

4) We agree with the author's classification of our student being a "declining achiever." As discussed above, it is evidenced by the gradual decline in his interest in school due to a lot of compounding factors. From our group, we empathize with a loss of academic motivation. One of the reasons we discussed are not feeling supported by our school. For example, with being categorized as an immigrant student, it'd make it easier to overlook a declining performance versus a student coming from a background more affluent than is. We conclude that more affluence may warrant more care and involvement by instructors, and the school as a whole. On a personal level, we empathize with declining mental health and not feeling supported in our stress, anger, or sadness. This can lead to burnout, and a great loss in motivation. We also want to re-emphasize the importance in how the motivation of students can be directly tied to how supported, secure, and understood they feel.

1. He lived in a working class neighborhood, he had a single mom and a sister. He had very low attendance, as well as poor academic achievement, coupled with low motivation for attending school, and his mother often let him skip class. He did have hopes for attending college, however his teachers always commended him for his positive attitude, participation, and respectful nature.

2. One particular experience that stood out was his desire to work and make money surpassed his desire for academic achievement and he seemed to enjoy working. As well as this, his mother worked long hours to provide for their family. His closest friendships were also with women, to which his peers gave him backlash for.

3. The author must have classified him as a low achiever because despite doing well when he would attend, his motivation to be in school would decrease over time, leading him to fail and miss class and he decided to prioritize work. Though he did have a good reputation amongst his teachers and had high potential to be successful, he ultimately had low expectations for himself. He also didn't feel a particular pressure from his mother to improve his academics.

4. We ultimately agree with the author's classification because he ultimately lacked an educational support system and he didn't really value educational success, but instead felt the need to direct his energy into his work, where he felt successful and confident. As well as this, he attended a Title I school where he may not have been able to receive the most high quality resources/education, and as an attention-motivated student, he wasn't receiving an individualized education/attention he needed to thrive.

1. Lotus moved the United States with her dad and her brother. her mother was still in China and her grandma lived in the Untied States. she grew up with a lot of responsibilities, so she was motivated to do well in school. But once she moved to higher education, she was constantly exhausted by homework and didn't have many friends or extracurricular activities. She was motivated to prove her parents wrong by doing well in school, because her father didn't expect her to succeed, pushing traditional general roles in the families.

2. One of the experiences we talked about was the language barrier, which is lead to her being isolated from her peers and didn't feel comfortable talking to her teachers. Another experience was when she joined the bible study club, even through she was raised buddhist. There was also her home environment, she shared a bed with grandma and her brother and she had a hard time focusing because of it. There also was the lack of family support which made he feel very lost. She internalized all her struggles which lead to her decline in mental health.

3. Lotus was very motivated and worked hard in school, but a lot of the experiences affected her mental health. She was feeling a lot of anxiety and stress and it affected her performance in school, thus leading to a decline in grades.

4. As group, we agree with the classification as it shows how the student was really motivated to do well in school, but the pressure of being the best led to a decline in her mental health. In my personal experience, I was struggling a lot in my senior year of high school, as the stress of school and tests lead me to spend less time with my family and friends.

By: Wendy Sanka, Faith Lee, Jason Yoon, Jessie Lee, Jingbo Xu, Junhong Fu, Zijian Luo

ii. His relationship with his mother affected his school experience as she treated him like a friend and that caused him to not view her as someone he respected. His attitude in the classroom also affected his school experience because his teachers say he would not participate and he would skip class constantly and while he first described school as his "place to learn" he later described it as " a boring place". There was also the fact that while he felt comfortable to ask questions and get help at his bilingual middle school but during high school, he struggled to ask for help or talk to his teachers.

iii. Henry is labeled as a declining achiever because his grades start to decline as he goes through high school. He went to a bilingual middle school, but when he went to a primarily English high school, his grades started to decline in English although his math grades were still pretty good. He thought the pressure of high school work was overwhelming and began to skip more classes as time went on, but lied to his mother and told her that he was skipping class because the material was "too easy". Henry felt isolated in his English based classes and was afraid to ask questions unlike how he was in middle school.

iv. We agree with the author as there was many factors in Henry's life where he went from being a student with high dreams and active participation in middle school to declining grades, less participation, isolation and dimmed dreams in high school.

Caroline Witherspoon, Amanda Carrion Fajardo, Jayna Lopez, Nicole Yamaguchi, Ligia Sanchez, Avyel Leyva, Frank Aguirre, Frances Salgado

II. A particular experience that stands out is Civic’s premature transition to mainstream classes without enough language support. This heavily contributed to his overall disengagement from class and his eventual dropout from school. Additionally, the stories relating to Civic’s life include peers of another race who bully him. This caused him to feel forced to wear “strange” clothes to protect himself. Additionally, the way he presented himself through his clothes made his peers and teachers treat him like a “bad student” with bad influences. This contributed to his decline in participation in school overall. 

III. The author likely classified Civic in this particular group because, despite high aspirations, his academic performance declined rapidly after eros in school placement and lack of support. This eventually led to disengagement, lack of attendance, and eventually dropping out. We felt it was also important to note that his parents lack formal education as well so they were not encouraged toward his participation in school. 

IV. We agree with the author’s classification of Civic as a low achiever because he underperformed in school, dropped out, and viewed school in general through a negative lens because it hindered him from wanting to do things he was actually interested in. These characteristics are consistent with low achievers. In addition, his shrinking social circle and reduced contact with friends might have also affected his learning experience. We believe the author’s classification is reasonable because it is based on the student’s school performance and social situation.

ii - One of the experiences that stood out to us was the difference between US schooling versus the schooling system in Haiti. In Haiti, according to Jean-Luc’s mother, the students are not taught the material, but rather they are taught to memorize it, whereas the US schooling system encouraged in-depth understanding of the topics. His mother was worried that this would stunt his autonomy as a student, but it also benefited him in the sense that he was able to be respectful and excel as a student. Another experience that stood out was the fact that English was not his first language, and even in the face of that obstacle, he was able to thrive academically. Jean-Luc was so academically successful that he was “bored” by the classes that he was taking in high school, completely unaware of the fact that he could be taking college-level courses as a high school student. Because of this lack of knowledge, Jean-Luc’s college preparation was extremely limited, as both him and his family were unaware of the process of preparing for college with testing, classes, etc. 

iii - Jean-Luc was categorized as a high achiever, this was due to his drive to succeed in education despite all the challenges he faced as a Haiti immigrant student. He battled through stereotypes and adversity all throughout his life, especially when his father left to the US for 10 years to attempt to provide his family with a chance at success in the US. 

iv - We definitely do agree with the author’s classification of Jean-Luc as a “high achiever,” for reasons more than just academic achievement. For one, Jean-Luc was able to excel in his academics, being the top of his class in both the United States and Haiti. He was well-respected by all of his teachers and consistently received praise from both his family and teachers. However, aside from the academic realm, Jean-Luc was able to develop into a young man who is emotionally responsible and mature, as well as someone who is very self-assured and confident in his abilities. He understands the nuances of racism at such a young age, and a large reason for all of this is because of the teachings of his family, as well as the support in which they provided him with. Jean-Luc entered this foreign space and managed to climb to the top, and develop very meaningful and close relationships with his family, all hallmarks of a very high achiever.

 ii) one of the experiences that stuck out was Joyce's experience in middle school with witnessing violence amongst other racial groups as well as Asians which seemed to go against this idea of Asians being docile and more shy compared to their other peers because of these stereotypes.

iii) Classifying Joyce as high achiever was due to her preforming well academically and maintaining a good relationship with her parents in the circumstances that her parent provide a lot of opportunities for her

iv) We agree with the classification of Joyce as a high achiever due to the way she preforms in terms of passing entrance exam for an elite school and how much emphasis she has on achieving well. Her being able to transition without too much difficulty helps especially because "because she knows well how to reach out to others, she soon finds a supportive adult in her new school, a Chi-
nese teacher. Again, she joins after-school programs, including the Asian Club and a selective college-prep program at a local university." as stated in the reading which enables this high achieving behavior. One of our groupmates shared that he could relate as he explained how he personally moved to the U.S. during high school, and I can relate to a lot of the obstacles Joyce encountered I give full respect to Joyce and admire how she’s able to overcome all those obstacles and still be successful in school.

II. A particular experience that stands out is Civic’s premature transition to mainstream classes without enough language support. This heavily contributed to his overall disengagement from class and his eventual dropout from school. Additionally, the stories relating to Civic’s life include peers of another race who bully him. This caused him to feel forced to wear “strange” clothes to protect himself. Additionally, the way he presented himself through his clothes made his peers and teachers treat him like a “bad student” with bad influences. This contributed to his decline in participation in school overall.

III. The author likely classified Civic in this particular group because, despite high aspirations, his academic performance declined rapidly after eros in school placement and lack of support. This eventually led to disengagement, lack of attendance, and eventually dropping out. We felt it was also important to note that his parents lack formal education as well so they were not encouraged toward his participation in school.

IV. We agree with the author’s classification of Civic as a low achiever because he underperformed in school, dropped out, and viewed school in general through a negative lens because it hindered him from wanting to do things he was actually interested in. These characteristics are consistent with low achievers. In addition, his shrinking social circle and reduced contact with friends might have also affected his learning experience. We believe the author’s classification is reasonable because it is based on the student’s school performance and social situation.