Students Rising Above

Michelle Gertmenian-Wong
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― A Student Rising Above will be gracing the pages of Glamour Magazine in October –our own Lily Dorman-Colby. She was selected as one of the top ten college women in the country! She will be representing Yale University, the school she chose after rejecting full rides from multiple other Ivy League schools. Though it may seem her path is paved in gold, her journey has been more like climbing up a cliff. Make that climbing up a cliff with a 500 pound backpack.

Lily virtually raised herself. Her parents struggled with mental illness and drugs, and could not care for her or her three brothers. Dealers and prostitutes frequently visited her home in the poor flatlands of Berkeley.

"I saw a woman almost die in my living room from overdosing," she recalled.

No one made Lily go to school, and she often ended up missing class. In fifth grade, she missed school 52 times, and almost failed. That's when Lily decided to make some big changes in her life. She was only 11 years old.

"I told myself, if I'm average then I'll end up like my parents, be in a violent neighborhood, and be surrounded by drugs. I realized if I missed a single assignment, I would keep falling behind and drop out. I made a rule that I couldn't go to sleep before I finished my homework."

The next year, Lily only missed two days of school. Even when she was sick with a burning temperature, she would insist on going to class. She won an award for the most improved student. But her life at home was another story.

In seventh grade, Lily was placed in foster care after her friend's parents called Child Protective Services.

As a foster kid, Lily changed homes five times in two years. She was separated from her three brothers, and faced strict, often bizarre house rules. One foster mom insisted that she make appointments to take showers.

School became the only constant in her life. Lily refused to settle for anything less than an A, and fought to overcome her dyslexia. Her hard work paid off. When she arrived at Berkeley High School she got involved with Community Partnerships Academy, excelled in her classes, and exited special-education. She also met her mentor, Eytan.

"He is the reason I got into Yale. He taught me to tell my story," Lily said.

The summer after her freshman year at Yale, she came back to the Bay Area for a summer internship. Surprisingly, her first grueling year of college was nothing compared to the challenges she faced at her own apartment.

"I took in my little brother; I was his foster mom. He's autistic, so I took him for the summer while they were finding a new home for him."

Lily cared for her 13 year-old brother, working hard to get all the services he needed. She enrolled him in Laney College after testing his advanced math abilities. She made sure they ate healthy, getting in at least two servings of veggies every night and keeping tabs on literally every quarter she spent.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I went from being a 19 year-old to a 35 year-old single mom."

Students Rising Above Advisor Lisa Kossiver has been close with Lily for the past four years. Lisa advises her through college, and said Lily constantly makes her jaws drop, in awe.

"She's charismatic, she's spunky, she has a smile that never ends," said Lisa. "She doesn't want other kids to face what she did. That's why she does what she does; she cares so much for others."

Lily decided to get more involved with foster kids. She took a year off to work with AmeriCorps. She went back to her high school as a mentor. Many of the students were the first in their family to go to college. Lily stepped in as a parental figure once again, helping with applications and pushing students to reach their potential.

"The biggest thing we need to change is this trend of kids not going to college. Only 2% of foster youth graduate from college. The vast majority of people in my situation are so beat down that it's too difficult to keep trying," Lily said.

At the end of the year, she wrote a grant, and was able to surprise 18 of the students with computers.

"The reason I'm so involved is because it's not theoretical, these are real people who I know and care about," she said. 

Her next step is applying to law school.

"Knowing the law will help me in whatever path I choose. I want to make the biggest difference I can, whatever way that is," Lily said. "If you know the rules of the game, you can play better."

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