Michael Blackwood, the 2006 valedictorian at The Engineering School who once dreamed of becoming a doctor, played with his sons Amari (left) and Micah at his home in Okinawa, Japan. (Keith Bedford for The Boston Globe)
Blackwood, now a staff sergeant, is determined that his sons Micah (right) and Amari (center) will grow up with more opportunity than he did. (Keith Bedford for The Boston Globe)Staff Sergeant Blackwood now hopes to become an Army warrant officer. (Keith Bedford for The Boston Globe)
Blackwood, seen here carrying his son Micah near his apartment complex in Okinawa, Japan, is a world away from the future he’d once imagined for himself. (Keith Bedford for The Boston Globe)
Cheryl Ricketts, 2006 valedictorian at Greater Egleston High School, and her son, Asah Paye, went apple picking in October at Shelburne Farm in Stow. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Ricketts dropped out of Pine Manor College, but eventually earned an associate’s degree from Roxbury Community College. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Abadur Rahman, the 2006 valedictorian at East Boston High School, talks with Mohamed Nour following the Friday prayer at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)Rahman, who once aspired to become a doctor, talked to Carolyn McGee in his office at Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. in Dorchester, where he is the director of economic development. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)Rahman, who struggled with his Muslim identity following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, today draws meaning from his faith: “I naturally gravitate toward people of faith because they are more interested in the long term rather than the immediate.” (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Rahman shared a laugh with his wife, Rehena Rana (center), and a friend following the Friday prayer at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
Nagina Khudaynazar, the 2007 valedictorian at City on a Hill Charter Public School, is one of just two Boston valedictorians from 2005 to 2007 to have reached medical school. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)Rachel Singh, the 2006 valedictorian of Boston Latin Academy, now resides in Maine, where she lived in a yurt while building a home with her partner. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Singh now teaches first grade in Bar Harbor, Maine, but feels conflicted about having left Boston. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Singh returned to her yurt as she arrived home from school. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)Shanika Bridges-King, the 2006 valedictorian of The English High School, embraced her daughter, Leah, at the end of one school day. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)Bridges-King, pictured here near one of her mother’s former apartments at the old Bromley-Heath housing complex, became the first in her family to attend college. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Bridges-King, who attended some of the district’s most underperforming schools, now teaches fifth grade at a charter school in Boston. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Delcy Miranda, the 2006 valedictorian at the Boston International High School, was beset by a series of personal crises that derailed her studies at UMass Amherst. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Miranda, shown in her friend Sophia Cardoso’s kitchen, originally intended to be a doctor but now owns a massage studio in North Easton. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Trung Trinh, the 2005 valedictorian at Academy of Public Service, left his Malden home in November to head to work at the T-Mobile store he manages. He’s still deciding what he wants to do with his future. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Trinh hanging out at his sister’s business, Modern Nails Spa in Beverly, in October. His sister, Phuong Trinh (left), was the 2007 valedictorian at Academy of Public Service. Also shown are his mother, Tuyet Nguyen; his wife, Thanh Huynh (center); and his father, Tam Trinh. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
After Trinh dropped out of Boston College in 2005, it would take him eight more years to earn a bachelor's degree from UMass Boston. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Trinh paused at the shrine his father set up for prayers in November. He spent the first years of his life in a Malaysian refugee camp. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Telma Tavares, at her home in Uphams Corner in Dorchester in October, excelled as a student at the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, one of Boston's three prestigious exam schools. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Telma Tavares, held her 8-month-old daughter, Grey Tavares, in her Dorchester home last October. She wants to open an acupuncture business one day. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Lizbeth Ruiz, the 2007 valedictorian at Boston International High School, works as a paraprofessional in Eleanor Hanno's second-grade class at the Lee Academy Pilot School. She sometimes contemplates getting her teaching license. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
After watching over students at lunch one day, Lizbeth Ruiz held on to 7-year-old Isaias Perez’s hand before taking the class out to recess. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Ruiz at home with her 2-year-old daughter, Yaneisy Gonzalez Ruiz, in October. She cooked mangu' de guineitos (mashed green bananas) for her fiance before he went to work. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Madelyn Disla, the 2007 valedictorian at Charlestown High School, seemed to have everything going for her when she set off for Dartmouth College. She became homeless one year after graduating. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)Madelyn Disla and her 6-year-old son, Emir, goofing around in his room at home in September. Emir is the best thing in her life, Disla said. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)
Disla works Saturdays at her father's immigration service company. She has a full-time job at the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and dreams of someday going to law school. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)
Disla picked up her son, Emir, from school. She has slowly regained her footing, but she said she’s still far from her goals. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)
