In 1997 Alini Goncalves arrived in America, alone, without any knowledge of the English language or American culture. Brave, idealistic, she was hoping to find the better life she had always heard about.
Goncalves’ story is one of many success stories happening daily at Pimmit Hills High School. Small and largely unknown, Pimmit Hills works to bring new hope to students with diverse educational and cultural backgrounds.
Goncalves remembers the staggering difficulties that faced her in Brazil and when she arrived in America.
“Over there we didn’t have a lot of financial support or education,” Goncalves says, “I had to start working when I was 12 years old.”
By the time she was 17 she had decided that moving to the United States was the only way to create opportunities for herself and her family. She convinced her reluctant father, and with the help of a loan and some scraped together money, made the trip north to America, in pursuit of a dream.
Unfortunately the dream started as more of a nightmare. Living in Virginia, the one person she knew from home, a woman who had moved from Brazil years ago, took advantage of Goncalves’ helplessness and required that she take care of her kids and clean her home, all the while, still asking for rent. Goncalves eventually moved out and found work on her own. After a year in the United States she was working seven days a week in a Chinese restaurant, struggling to make rent, with no hope for changing her situation.
Not knowing any English she communicated primarily through drawing pictures or hand gestures. Her housing was arranged by her employer and the rent was taken directly out of her paycheck. Goncalves was losing hope and was beginning to think about returning home.
“One day I was holding the bible and I said, ‘God, try to show me something to change my mind’.” Says Goncalves. “I didn’t want to go home because my father had worked so hard to get the money to bring me here.”
It was at this time that she met Ricardo, another Brazilian. Ricardo told her about Pimmit Hills High School.
Now, after three years at Pimmit Hills, Alini Goncalves is graduating in June with plans to attend Howard University, where she will study orthodontics. She is married to Ricardo and works 4 days a week at an orthodontist office. She sends money home to her family every month
Like Goncalves the majority of the students at Pimmit Hills are foreign born and nearly all have faced major difficulties in their lives. Their ages extend from normal high school age to full grown adults, working to raise their own families while attending classes.
Didi Crowder started working at the school four years ago. She was hired to manage a 3.2 million dollar career services grant. The purpose of the grant was to support the students’ transition from high school to college or the workplace. While the grant has since expired Crowder stayed and continues to find opportunities for the students she has grown to love.
“There is a feeling that we were free to develop programs that would best fit our students’ needs,” says Crowder.
With the money Crowder helped organize the development of two computer labs and the creation of new career programs for students, including classes in journalism and graphic design.
Without the money from the grant Crowder has to be creative in finding ways to supplement her students’ education. “I am great at finding stuff for free,” says Crowder.
By finding willing contributors and organizations Crowder has been able to create a variety of field trips and events. They have organized fundraisers and attended luncheons, Crowder organized a senior ethics trip, and they even sent two students to the Youth World Peace Conference at Marymount University, all without any funds from the school.
Behind the field trips and extra curricular activities is a faculty that is committed to helping their students in need.
Anne Hoffman is in her second year teaching math at Pimmit Hills. Hoffman has found working with the students inspiring. “I love the kids,” says Hoffman. “They have overcome so much adversity.” After coming through hardships Hoffman sees a maturity in the thinking and behavior of her students, not seen in most high school kids.
For many of Hoffman’s students English isn’t their first language. This requires her to find creative ways around the language barrier. She has had to adapt her teaching to the capabilities of her classes. “I do a lot of re-emphasizing of vocabulary and terms,” says Hoffman. “I focus on using a lot of visual and graphic learning.”
Recently, there has been a new challenge that her students have had to deal. Last year the Standards of Learning test became a requirement for graduation in Virginia. The test has been given for years, but this is the first year that students must pass it in order to receive their diplomas.
The tests have proven to be particularly challenging for the students of Pimmit Hills. Hoffman explained some of the difficulty, “They way they ask a lot of the questions on the SOL's [the students] don’t understand them.”
Also, with less inherent knowledge of American culture, some foreign-born students contend that they are at a disadvantage in regards to succeeding on standardized tests. They feel like they are being faced with another obstacle to graduating.
Helping her students graduate is only part of Crowder’s job. Life after, and even during high school, is just as high of a priority. The cost of secondary education is prohibitively expensive for the majority of the students and many of them support families.
Unlike most schools, where Career Services helps arrange jobs for students after graduation, Pimmit’s career team often has to help kids find jobs while they attend classes.
The primary thrust of Crowder’s work though, is finding ways to make secondary education work for her students. To that end, The Dunn Loring Rotary Club has become a vital part of the school’s mission.
Didi remembers when the Rotary first met students from Pimmit Hills High School. They were amazed by their stories of adversity and their success in the face of that adversity. After that first meeting the Rotary became a primary supporter of the Pimmit Hills students.
The Rotary has since set aside money each year to provide 5 thousand dollars in scholarships for five Pimmit graduates to help them pay for their college education.
The Rotary has gone far beyond funding scholarships for the students. When Pimmit Hills sent two students to the Youth World Peace Conference they not only paid their way, but also bought them clothes appropriate for the occasion. Crowder emphasized their generosity. “I don’t think there’s anything we’ve ever asked for that the Rotary Club hasn’t helped us with,” said Crowder.
Even as students find success in their lives, the school faces challenges in providing them opportunities. Principal Beverly Wilson deals with the problems of leading a school without the resources that many other schools have.
The population of the school is between three hundred and fifty and five hundred, open enrollment leaving the exact total in question. Although both daytime and evening classes are held, it is still a challenge fitting all the students into the two hallways that make up the school.
The space limitations affect all aspects of the school’s functions. Without a lunchroom the students have to eat outside or in the classes. The meals are bussed in and the students line up in the halls with their trays.
The absence of a large multi-purpose room makes it difficult to arrange school gatherings and presentations. Graduations have to be held at other area venues.
While these challenges arise on a daily basis, the students are used to dealing with adversity and they continue to manage to make the best of things. On June 2nd they are holding a talent show that the entire school is excited about, and later in June, another group of students will walk the stage and receive their diplomas. More than just a piece of paper, the diploma will stand as a sign, commemorating the challenges they have faced, the help they have received, and the promise they now see for their lives.