DAVID LARACUENTE
ABCD UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2018
In It Together
“At ABCD University High, teachers and staff support the students. They put responsibility in our hands – we are carving out our futures – but they are there for us, helping and pushing every student toward a positive future. We are family!”
ABCD UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL
David Laracuente, age 18, graduated from ABCD UHS this year and he’s heading for college. He was the graduation speaker and his mom walked down the aisle beside him. Both were grinning all the way! (UHS Headmaster/Director Sherann Jackson-Alkins initiated that practice – a person whose support makes a difference accompanies the graduate on this significant journey, this moment of celebrating the past and welcoming the future.)
David grew up in Dorchester, Mattapan and the Old Colony housing development in South Boston. “I was exposed to so much that was negative,” he said. “Gangs, hot spots, people who told me that in five years I would be dead or in prison. I wanted something different.”
UHS inspired his success. “At school, I saw that it takes dedication, hard work and motivation to build a better life and that resonated with me.”
David is guided by the spirit of a lost comrade – his best friend from childhood who died at age 17 from bone cancer. “He was like my brother,” said David. “We did everything together. He graduated from high school but didn’t get to college – so I’m going to do that for him.” David is now enrolled at New England College of New Hampshire.
As the 2018 grads move on, words from Headmaster Sherann’s commencement address sustain them: “I love who you were – I love who you are – and I love who you will become.”
Truly this is a school where students, teachers and staff are IN IT TOGETHER!