Students Rising Above

Christina Fung
Los Altos (CBS 5) ― Growing up, Ruby Acosta watched as her parents did everything they could to support their five children.  Her mother would clean houses and sell candy, chips and sodas from their apartment to help pay the bills. 

When schools would close for summer break, she would work as a janitor and have the children sell snacks from their living room to earn extra income.  Her father would also work two jobs full-time jobs to help make ends meet.  Since her father didn't own a car, he would ride the bus to work, but sometimes would have to borrow a friend's bike if he couldn't find enough change to pay the bus fare.

The stress and frustrations of the family's tight financial situation made home a tense place for Ruby and her siblings.  Her father would become easily angered and her mother suffered frequently from panic attacks. 

To help pay the rent, both of her older siblings took jobs at McDonalds.

Even though Ruby was born in the United States, her mother would become so frustrated with their living situation that she would frequently move all of the children with her back to Mexico to live with family where they wouldn't have to pay rent.  The constant moving interrupted the children's education and made learning a big challenge.

"It was hard to adapt from all-English to all-Spanish the next day," said Ruby.  Switching between the two languages proved too difficult for her two oldest siblings and they were unable to finish high school. "I don't blame [them] for dropping out of high school.  It was really hard."

But she didn't let their decisions discourage her from pursuing her passion for learning. 

"I've always liked school, that was my thing," she said. "I've always liked reading and I wanted to show my [younger] brothers that school is really important because right now it's the only thing we have to get ahead and have a career and be successful in life."

When Ruby was 14 years old, she and her family returned to California and she enrolled in the 10th grade at Los Altos High School.  During her first year of high school, Ruby faced a significant obstacle— catching up on the entire 9th grade curriculum.  She had missed her freshmen year of high school and had to catch up on math, science and English courses in order to be eligible to apply for college.  

As soon as she could, she went to her school counselor and asked her to place her in AVID, a special program designed for students like Ruby who want to go to college.  There, she found help and encouragement from her teachers and her peers.  

"She's just so resilient and so determined and she has a really good head on her shoulders and she woks incredibly hard," said Dafna Tarle, Ruby's school counselor.  "She's got these goals … [and] whatever she does she's working to towards that goal and she never forgets that."

To meet all the eligibility requirements for college, Ruby went to summer school and always took a full academic load during the school year.  Tarle says she would carefully help Ruby craft her schedule each school year to make sure she covered everything.

"She's worked very hard," said Tarle. 

Tarle said that Ruby's natural ability to switch between languages proved to be a huge advantage and, "she was able to kind of jump in and do what she needed to do to meet the requirements to get caught up." 

During her time at Los Altos, Ruby also got involved with the school's Latino Student Union (LSU) and began participating in an after-school tutoring program called "All Together As One" where she helps fellow students, particularly English language learners, with their school work.  She also helps educate middle school and elementary school students and their parents about what it takes to go to college.

"I think I'm getting more help from [the program] than they are because I feel like I'm doing something for my community," said Ruby.

The best part, she says, is letting the other young Latino kids know that they can go beyond stereotypes and one day go to college.

"It's not impossible to be successful and be Latino—those two words can go together.  … It's about working hard."

Ruby is now a senior in high school and will graduate this June.  She has been accepted to Boulder University in Colorado where she plans to study science.

"I've always loved animals and the environment… I get called a hippy and a tree-hugger but that doesn't really bother me," Ruby said. "I've been a vegetarian for ten years already and I'm hoping to get involved in wildlife conservation or environmental sciences."

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