Former Safe Passage Summer Intern, Marty Estrella, who came to NY from the Dominican Republic when he was only 8 years-old, is featured on the front page of El Diario.

According to El Diario and today’s feature, because Marty’s father had to work long hours to be able to support Marty and his brothers, Marty started hanging-out with the wrong crowd. This had a negative effect on his High School grades and they started to decline. It soon became evident that Marty would not be able to graduate in 4 years and according to the EL Diario article, Marty would “join the 12.7% of NY Latinos that drop out of school.” However, the article notes that Marty was motivated and determined to graduate and thanks to hard work and perseverance Marty was fortunate to be part of the different group of New York Latinos that graduate school in 5 years or more. In the article, Marty explains that nothing would have been possible without the help of is teachers from Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School, who provided him with information about resources and emotional support.

Read the full article here.