BUILDING A SUPPORT SYSTEM
Somedays, Samantha Torres dreams about becoming a video game designer. Other days, she wants to open up her own bakery or maybe even design her own clothing brand.
No matter what the seventh-grader decides, Samantha’s parents, Mireya and Juan, are eager to see her dreams come true.
And for them, that starts with making sure she gets a sound education — despite the family’s economic status.
Samantha is one of about 80 low-income middle school students who attend Sacred Heart Nativity School in the heart of San Jose’s Washington-Guadalupe neighborhood.
Students who attend the private Catholic school come from families earning an average annual income of $30,000, and when they enter in the sixth grade, many are at least one or two grade levels behind in English and math.
More than 90% of the students are Latinos, with most of them coming from immigrant families living within the surrounding neighborhood.
The school, which has been open for more than two decades, has long relied on a rigorous academic program that includes long school days and Saturday classes to ensure that students head off to high school on track academically with the skills and foundation to lead a successful life, both in school and socially.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, however, the unique issues that the students of Sacred Heart Nativity were facing outside of the classroom became even more apparent and school officials realized that they had to take more action.
“It was almost like an onion,” said Principal Lorraine Shepherd. “You just start peeling it and then more and more needs come to the surface.”