Fifth-year seniors share stories of determination to graduate

High school is not a four-year foray for many students nowadays. Fifth-year seniors are more common than ever before, administrators say.

"There was always the option for kids to come back for a fifth year," said Liberty High School principal Milana Winter, a 22-year veteran in the Clark County School District. "But since (Superintendent Dwight Jones) came, there's really been a focus for us to look at those kids and pull them back in."

More than 700 fifth-year seniors are enrolled this school year, with about 500 in traditional high schools and 200 in alternative education schools, according to the school district. These seniors are not counted in any graduation rate data, the district said.

At Liberty, 3700 Liberty Heights Ave., which consistently has one of the highest graduation rates in the district at over 90 percent, Sussana Figueroa is one of those returning for a fifth fall semester. She began missing school as a sophomore to take care of her ill father.

"I was the only one living with him out of four girls," Figueroa said. "He ended up getting kidney disease. I felt the need to stay home sometimes to take care of him because there was no one else there for him.

"It was getting really bad. I had to take him to the hospital even though I didn't have a license."

Figueroa said this happened weekly, and by her junior year, she gave up on the idea of graduating.

"I had in my mind I'm not going to graduate anyway, so I might as well (not go to school)," she said.

By the middle of her junior year, Figueroa's mind had changed.

"No one in my family has graduated," she said. "... It's just an example of what I don't want to be.

"My mom was suffering for me. I couldn't take it anymore. ... I didn't like to see her cry over my failures."

Figueroa has four credits to make up and, if all goes as planned, she will graduate by January. After that, she has college is in her sight.

Figueroa would like to work with animals as a career, she said, maybe as a marine biologist. She already has a small zoo at home, complete with three dogs, three mice, two turtles and a hamster.

Her father lives in California and "he's doing a lot better," she said.

Across the valley at Sunrise Mountain High School, 2575 N. Los Feliz St., fifth-year senior Pedro Dominguez also is looking to become his family's first high school graduate. His family moved to Las Vegas from Mexico in 2005, and he struggled initially with English but has improved to near perfect fluency.

"My parents were kind of pushing me because they told me they didn't want me to be like them - suffering - looking for a job," Dominguez said. "They told me to get a career in something I love."

What he loves is computers. He discovered his affinity for them about two years ago when his family's sole computer broke and they could not afford to have it fixed. Dominguez took it upon himself to get it working again. Fixing computers is a skill that he thinks he can make into a career.

"It's basically like a car," he said. "They break down all the time, and people need to fix them."

Dominguez plans to study computing and information technology at the College of Southern Nevada once he passes his remaining two state proficiency exams and completes one English class.

And while he needs just one class, Dominguez keeps a full schedule of eight so he can ride the bus to and from school.

If anyone knows the challenges of starting school in a new country and learning a new language, it is Sunrise Mountain senior Saadiya Mwachiwa of Kenya. She needs to pass only her math proficiency exam and make up one math credit.

She never attended school before her family moved to Las Vegas 10 years ago. It was more common in her home country for children not to go to school, she said, and to stay home and help raise the younger kids.

Her parents moved the family to America so they could have an education, she said.

"More than anything, both of (my parents) have always told us that having a diploma in America is very important," Mwachiwa said. "They don't speak English, but they understand the importance of earning a diploma.

"They work housekeeping, and they do not want that life for us."

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.