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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Rising to the Occasion: Finishing high school in time wasn't easy for Renee Vic, but looking back, she says meeting the challenge made her more independent and gave her more self-respect.
Pomp and Sacrifice
WG senior Renee Vic almost didn't get her diploma with the rest of the class. Almost.
By Chantal Lamers
At least one of the 300 Willow Glen High School seniors who received their diplomas at commencement ceremonies in the Rose Garden last weekend breathed a sigh of relief when she got hers. Renee Vic, 17, wasn't the valedictorian or the class clown. She wasn't the star of her high school basketball team and she wasn't the editor of the yearbook.
Vic graduated by the skin of her teenage teeth, but she couldn't be happier about it. Vic has enrolled at West Valley Community College. In two years, she plans on transferring to U.C.-Davis and fulfilling her 11-year-old dream of becoming a veterinarian.
But things didn't look good for Vic at the beginning of the school year. In September, she was called into Assistant Principal Carmen Mayhood's office where she received the bad news--she was 40 credits behind and probably wouldn't graduate with the senior class.
She panicked and didn't know what to do. But with the support of her mother, Susan Vic, and stepfather, Keith Norman, Vic pulled it off and earned her diploma with the rest of the Class of 2000.
"I knew I could do it," Vic says, "I just needed support from the school and from my parents. "Honestly, all of this has made me a stronger person."
During her senior year, Vic spent her days at the high school enrolled in six classes. By night, she took English, math, history, ceramics and ethnic studies classes at Evergreen and San Jose City colleges.
While many of her friends enjoyed a kick-back kind of senior year, with just three or four classes a semester, Vic had to work harder than ever before. "If I failed one class, I wouldn't graduate," Vic said.
During her first semester of night classes, Vic earned A's and B's--the best grades she'd ever received. In her community college classes, Vic met other kids her age, struggling with the same consequences. "It helped me get through my classes," Vic said. "It helped me realize I'm not the only one who messed up."
Demerris Brooks, assistant principal for curriculum and instruction, said every year there are students who face the same challenge as Vic. "In my experience, every year, one student will overcome the odds because they want it badly enough," Brooks says.
Brooks encouraged Vic to take the extra courses and take on the challenge. She told her not to give up. She told her not to drop out of Willow Glen High School and attend a continuation school.
Vic turned herself around, took on a huge homework load and became a focused student. She says there's an obvious change in Vic. "She carries herself well," Brooks says. "I'm really proud of her.
"It was important to her. Her mother and stepfather were willing to do absolutely everything and anything to help her succeed," Brooks says.
Mrs. Vic was so determined to help her daughter succeed that she began taking night classes with her. When Vic was failing economics, she got a co-worker, Bridgett Jones, to tutor her daughter every evening for two weeks. When her daughter became frustrated, Mrs. Vic offered a shoulder to cry on.
"There were times when she wanted to give up, when she was overwhelmed," Mrs. Vic says. "But she stuck with it. This whole thing has made her stronger--it's shown her that she can do what she wants to do in life.
"We have a lot of people to thank," Mrs. Vic says. "We didn't do it by ourselves."
After all, Vic isn't just a high school grad. She has also become an adult. "I respect myself more," she says. "I'm more independent -- I don't need my mom to tell me to do my homework anymore."
Vic says the struggle was well worth her time. "I didn't want to see my friends walk up on the stage and me be in the audience," Vic says.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
