College : Fresno City College Career goal : Undecided

About Nathalie : Nathalie Barroso has always been independent and wanted to take care of herself without putting stress on her parents by asking for money or material things . Her mother and father were teenagers when she was born , and many people questioned whether they were capable of being good parents . Growing up , Nathalie was the oldest of three children and always felt pressure to be a good example and step up to be a “ third parent ” to her siblings when needed . She said her main goal was to make her parents proud and prove to everyone who ever had doubts that teen parents can be great and raise successful children .

Nathalie said her mother has become her biggest motivation , calling her the strongest person she knows and her “ rock .” She said watching her mom go through rough times and persevere made her realize she too could do anything .

Nathalie is one of the first people in her family to go to college , mainly because of financial hardships . She said receiving scholarship funds is a gamechanger , relieving some of her stress about paying for college .

In Nathalie ’ s words : “ My plan is to make it somewhere and be someone in this world . I want to make my mom proud and be a positive role model for my younger siblings .”

Nanci Gardner , teacher at DeWolf High School : “ Nathalie has worked very hard on her academics all year to reach her goal of graduating on time . In addition , she was an active member of DeWolf ’ s leadership team and served as the Student Advisory Board representative . She is the definition of what it means to never give up and stay focused on the prize . The Cobra family is so proud of her !”

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