Brayden Bixby, a senior at Mill River Union High School, wants to be a firefighter. Like many young boys, he grew up playing with fire trucks in the driveway and wearing a fireman costume as everyday clothing. But his passion burned deeper and longer than most, something that was no doubt stoked by…

If Shixin Huang’s parents had decided to remain in Guangdong, China, where she was born, she would have taken a standardized test in the sixth grade that would have determined whether she would have the chance to go to college, could go to technical school, or would go straight into the workforce.…

Nicole was a straight-A student throughout her high school years at Ygnacio Valley High School; but when she went on to community college right after graduation, she left after one semester.