With a strong accent, Miguel Roca, 21, moved from Peru four years ago. But after two years at Robinson High School, Roca felt much older than the rest of the student body and asked to transfer to Mountain View Alternative School.
"If you look at the kids who come here, most of them have challenges in their lives that they have to go through," Roca said. "Some of them are parents, and they work and they come to school. I just work part time and then come to school. Can you imagine having another responsibility like children? I respect that, and I think it's one of the things that makes this school so special."
Roca, who graduated on June 16, appreciated the number of foreign students who take classes for English for Speakers of Other Languages at Mountain View. The smaller class sizes at Mountain View also help ESOL students progress more rapidly, he said, and students and teachers at Mountain View cherish its diverse student body.
"At base school, all I saw was segregation; by themselves. You see here, we all talk together," Roca said. "They all mock on my accent, and I love them."