After struggling with her grades in a traditional high school, Zuleny transitioned to Avalon Continuation High School. Once enrolled she chose to distract herself from personal circumstances and turned her focus to her coursework. She enrolled in Sharefest’s Career Development Courses at Avalon and signed up to be part of Sharefest’s Mentorship Program where she met Instructor-Mentor, Luis Guerrero.

Zuleny’s drive and focus propelled her to qualifying to graduate a year early! She will be graduating from Avalon this spring and plans to attend Long Beach City College in the fall. Her ultimate goal is to become a lawyer.

With Luis, Zuleny has explored the Air Force as a pathway to achieve her goal. The Sharefest team is currently working with our web of relationships to help Zuleny make the best choice for her future in the Air Force –  enlist as an 18-year-old or become an officer through an ROTC college program.

The youth we serve have persisted through challenges some of us would never dream possible. It is our job to help them uncover their resiliency and channel it into their college or career goals. We cannot do this important work without supporters like you!

Thanks to our partners, we are able to walk alongside our students as they make choices to broaden their horizons. These choices help our students strengthen their resiliency, expand their social capital, as well as create access to college or career pathways.

Zuleny, we are so impressed with your resiliency and perseverance. We can’t wait to see what you accomplish next!

We couldn’t do the work we do without our incredible Youth Leadership Academy partners!