Senior Spotlight — Karina Rodriguez

Karina Rodriguez, a senior at Towne East Learning Center, encountered some tough times in high school and wasn’t sure if she would graduate.

“I am so happy. I still can’t believe it. I’m going to have to walk the stage first,” she said.

She moved to Wichita from North Carolina during the height of COVID and she missed many of her classes. Then her brother passed away. The trauma of losing her brother caused her to stop doing her schoolwork.  Staff at her school suggested she transfer to Towne East Learning Center to catch up.

“The people at Towne East helped me a lot,” she said. “Everyone here was very supportive of me and took care of me. They really pushed me to succeed.”

She said with their encouragement, and support from her family, she finished earning all her high school credits in January.

“I kept telling myself, ‘I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do this. I want to graduate. I want to be a lawyer’,” she said.

Rodriguez will move back to North Carolina to attend Gaston College in the fall to study criminal justice.

“I have younger siblings and I want them to look at me and see what I’ve done and be inspired.”