With
a Sister’s Love and
a Community’s Support, Hard Work Leads to Success
Whitney Casion’s fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Genova, writes
that Whitney is a very dedicated student who has made tremendous
gains academically this year. At the beginning of the year she
was placed in a below level reading group, because her final placement
scores from last year as well as her FCAT scores indicated that
she needed remediation. Very early on, she showed a very strong
work ethic. She enjoys participating in class and asks questions
that add to our discussions. After the first nine weeks, Whitney
moved up to the on-level reading group. She’s been on the
A/B honor roll twice this year for her outstanding work.
But Whitney’s journey was not easy. She came to the United
States when she was three years old from Haiti. In February of
2002 her father passed away after being ill for several months
and her mother was sent back to Haiti by relatives to recover from
the stress caused by the illness and death of her husband. Whitney
and her sisters were adamant about staying in the U.S.
Her sister Carine, who was a Senior in High School at the time,
made a promise to her sisters to take care of them for as long
as it took for their mother to get better. She attended school
during the day, and worked at Eckerd’s each night until midnight.
After leaving work she would wake up her sisters, who were being
watched at a neighbor’s house, and take them home. Each morning
she made sure that her sisters arrived to school. For several months,
until their mom was able to return, the staff at Stephen Foster
and the entire community rallied around the girls to provide for
their rent, food, clothing and all expenses for the apartment.
Today, Whitney enjoys completing extra assignments and frequently
asks for additional work. Several times per week she checks out
books from the classroom library to take home and read. In the
Accelerated Reader program she has read and passed tests on 51
books this year. She frequently stays after school to complete
extra assignments on the computer based instructional program called
Success Maker.
At the beginning of the year her grade level in math in the Success
Maker program was early fourth grade. Her current level in math
is beginning sixth grade. She participated in Steam Team and Art
Club, which helped boost her self-confidence and esteem. Her sister’s
love and the support of adults in her life probably have a little
something to do with that as well. One thing is for certain, Carine’s
work ethic has rubbed off on Whitney and her future looks bright.
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