First Class: Lincoln student wants to 'strive for the best for herself and for others'

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a 12-part series looking at the winners of the inaugural Argus Leader First Class Scholarship in partnership with Augustana University. Winners are all on track to become the first in their family to attend college.

Sarai Peralta saw the limits of her lifestyle at an age when perspective is difficult to muster. Having no direction, she realized, has its enticements but doesn't last very long.

The Lincoln High School senior has embraced with obvious determination a constructive path made more distinctive by its enthusiasm. It includes academics, extra-curricular activities, volunteering and now, a much brighter future.

More:Argus Leader First Class: Complete coverage of scholarship winners

“She is a young woman who wants to strive for the best for herself and for others,” said Andrea Thorson, a middle school language arts teacher who taught Peralta for two years. “She’s a very balanced person – it’s not an obsession with grades, it’s about living up to her potential.”

Growing up, Peralta advanced in her appreciation of her mother’s sacrifice for her children. There came a day when that devotion took on a role in inspiring a teenage daughter to straighten up.

“I realized how hard she worked for my sisters and I,” Peralta said. “And she did it without an education or a degree.”

Peralta, as one of 12 recipients of the Argus Leader’s First Class scholarship, is the first of her family planning to go to college. Woven in with her aspirations is a keen appreciation for the contributions of others in putting her in a spot to pursue a career.

In an essay Peralta put together as part of her candidacy for a First Class scholarship, she wrote poignantly of the physical discomfort her mother endured working long hours as a housekeeper. A trip to the doctor after months of persistent pain revealed she had stress fractures in both feet.

More:First Class: Slam poetry helps New Tech senior overcome shyness, succeed in school

While her mother rested at home recovering from her injuries, Peralta came to a conclusion:

“She was my hero and my role model,” she wrote. “Just like she put so much work and effort into being able to support my sisters and me, I wanted to put that much work and effort into school.”

Peralta’s motivation got another push when her older sister Michelle, who quit high school without graduating, began pursuing a GED.

“She dropped out as a senior but she realized her mistake,” Peralta said. “The problems she would have by not having an education really opened her eyes. She enrolled at STI (Southwest Technical Institute) and got her GED. She was staring at life without a degree, and she pulled herself together.”

It was another lesson in self-determination that Peralta took to heart. She could see the benefits and so could others.

“Her focus on learning became evident; she wanted to truly learn, thus pushing herself to grow and be challenged,” wrote Andrea Thorson, a language arts teacher at Patrick Henry Middle School in a letter of recommendation for Peralta. “I remember her eighth-grade year being one of difficulty and hard changes for her, but she came out the other side a stronger and more confident young adult.”

Thorson knew Peralta to be a shy kid as a seventh grader, but when it was time to overcome that for a poetry slam competition as an eighth-grader, she nailed it. Her poem and accompanying performance of “Torn Pocket” was one of 14 among nearly 400 to be recited in front of all eighth-grade students.

It was about coming of age, of overcoming obstacles — and listening to the people who say you can succeed while learning to tune out the people who say you can’t.

More:First Class: Son to a Polish immigrant an academic star at Lincoln High School

“When she had to read her poem I think she was nervous and maybe a little skeptical,” Thorson said. “But then she showed up with a confidence I’d never seen her display. The part of her that believes in herself came out. She wasn’t afraid.”

As a person and as a student, Peralta was burning brighter. It’s a process that continues. She is involved in debate, competitive cheer and sideline football cheer. She volunteers in the Avera McKennan gift shop and spends time rocking NICU babies. She has a 3.0 GPA and wants to pursue a career in pharmacy.

The link between taking care of business as a student and the potential for a better life keeps showing up. She continues to supply, through her own diligence, the evidence that there are no limits to career possibilities. The important thing is that it had to start with her.

“When I started focusing on my grades and my schooling I started acting more mature,” Peralta said. “I saw my report cards were getting better, I started getting good feedback from my teachers and my mom noticed my good behavior at home. I just decided that I enjoyed that lifestyle a lot more than the one I was living before.”

More:First Class: Tea student inspired to become a nurse after helping care for brother