A goal to graduate: Manzano High student refused to allow homelessness to keep her from diploma

May 20—Mariah Noland was in fifth grade and reading at a first-grade level when she made a promise to herself.

"I set my goal to finish high school," Noland, 18, said. "I would be the first one in my family to go straight through."

It was a brave and audacious vow. Not only did Noland have to overcome a reading comprehension disability, but the challenges of homelessness and the lack of dependable transportation.

"My last year in middle school, I lived with my grandmother and two sisters, one older, one younger, in a women's shelter," Noland said. "We were couch-surfing (among relatives) during the COVID year. We got evicted from a house we were living in because someone burglarized it and caused a lot of damage. We lived in an old hotel that had been turned into a shelter.

"We have such bad luck with cars. One broke down and another got towed. Me and my little sister took a (city) bus to school. It would take two hours to get to school and three hours to get home. I was late to school every single day."

Noland was telling her story recently in a room at Manzano High School. She made good on her promise.

On Tuesday evening she will be among the Manzano High seniors receiving diplomas during graduation ceremonies at Tingley Coliseum. She plans to enroll in the University of New Mexico in the fall.

"I want to study architecture," she said. "As a child, I would make cities out of paper. I'd make such a mess. My dad would get so mad."

Sticking with Manzano

Noland was born in Albuquerque and spent her earliest years in the Manzano neighborhood.

Most of the time, she has lived with her father, Jason Head, and her sisters, who are now 19 and 15.

"Dad was bullied because of his (last) name," Noland said. "That's why he wanted us to have our mom's name instead of his." But she was bullied in school anyway.

She said her world came crashing down when her parents divorced.

"I was about 7, but I was conscious of what was happening," she said. "There were a lot of hurt people."

Her father worked installing insulation, and the family moved a lot, even living for a short time in Clovis. That made keeping up in school tough.

"My older sister dropped out of high school," Noland said. "It was not her thing. She got a degree in welding and is now back in school to realize her dream to be a cook."

Noland and her younger sister stayed in school despite obstacles. They had to take a city bus to school while living in the hotel turned shelter, because it is at University and Gibson and their father wanted his daughters to continue attending their schools in the Northeast Heights.

In Noland's case, that was Manzano.

"Manzano has so many resources, and I had finally made a friend there," she said "I joined the Outdoors Club and the Black Student Union. My dad wanted me to stick with Manzano."

City buses, however, do not respond well to school bells.

"My first period was French class, and I would almost always miss it," Noland said. "But my French teacher would stay with me after school."

Noland has been blessed with exceptional teachers willing to help her succeed despite the complications of her life.

One that made an indelible impression on Noland was a grade school music teacher.

"I don't remember her name, but she was a Black lady with beautiful hair she kept in wraps that were bright purple and red," Noland said. "She'd wear this big, poofy skirt with this poofed-out blouse. She really made herself stand out.

"I couldn't read. I had such anxiety. I couldn't stay focused. But she taught me to transfer my inability to stay still into crazy activities like music."

A standout

When things are tough, it sometimes seems there's nothing you do that doesn't make it tougher.

There was the time, for example, when Noland and her family flooded the whole floor they were living on at the hotel/shelter.

She said they somehow managed to set off the fire sprinkler system while drying laundry in their room.

"We were all wet and (the hotel staff) was mad, but they didn't kick us out. They moved us to another floor."

One thing that has worked out well for Noland and her family is the federally-funded Albuquerque Public Schools Title 1 McKinney-Vento Homeless Program, which offers services to homeless children and their families.

"They are such understanding people," Noland said of the APS McKinney-Vento staff. "They bring us food. They take us snowboarding. One of them helped us move into our new (apartment)."

But Noland's own resolve played a large role in her personal triumph.

"She kept her stress to herself, and she never expected any special treatment," said Tim Asselin, Noland's woodshop teacher for four years. "She did all she could to get to school. She was always well-dressed and neat. She would make up any work she missed due to transportation issues."

Gary Catalano, Noland's financial literacy teacher during her senior year, described her as an attentive student, who did her work and was concerned about her grades.

He said if she was late or missed class because of transportation problems, she wanted to know what she missed and what she had to do to make it up.

"She did not come to class to fool around," he said, "She was studious."

Asselin said Noland is mild-mannered, quiet and talked very little when she was a freshman.

"Me and my assistant would listen to her and give her time," he said. "I think that helped her come out of her shell. Once you get to know her, she is very bright, very open."

He said Noland has amazing, natural artistic talent.

"She does detailed, free-handed wood burning, three-dimensional with shading," Asselin said. "People love her work, but she is very humble. She smiled, but never gloated or bragged."

Asselin, 59, has been a teacher for 35 years, all of them at Manzano. He has been eligible for retirement for 10 years.

"It is students like Mariah who keep me teaching well beyond retirement," he said.

Catalano, 70, also plans to continue teaching. He worked as an educator in various states, before coming to Manzano about 10 years ago. He has been a principal and a superintendent, as well as a classroom teacher. He has seen all kinds of students.

"Mariah is one of the standouts," he said. "One you remember."

Most rewarding

Noland recalls a time when she and her father were riding bikes together for about an hour and a half.

"We were on the last part," she said. "He said this is the hardest part, but it is the most rewarding part. You got to get through it."

You can imagine Noland thinking that this stage of her life is the rewarding part. Reading is not the challenge it once was. She enjoys reading, especially history, art history, romance and realistic fiction. She is living in an apartment with her sisters. The family has two cars.

And she is graduating from high school.

"I'm so proud of myself," she said. "I'm so emotional. I'm so nervous (about attending UNM). But I'm looking forward to meeting all kinds of new people."

Just as she did when she was in fifth grade, she is setting a goal for herself.

"Ten years from now, I want to be successful."