At the beginning of Candelario Saldana's junior year at
He had a 4.0 grade point average, had finally come out of the closet about his homosexuality to his family, friends and school and he was happy.
But during the middle of the year things took a turn for the worse. His mother decided that she could not let him stay with her because of his sexuality and kicked him out of the house.
That's when Saldana said things started to fall apart around him.
With nowhere else to go, he called his aunt in Hurricane and asked if he could come live with her. In the process of moving, checking out of school and finding work to support himself, Saldana missed his entire third quarter of school.
He also again had to keep his sexuality a secret and be someone he said he didn't want to be.
"It tore me apart because I had so many goals set," Saldana said.
For his senior year Saldana wanted to lead the gay/straight alliance at the school, run for class office, be a cheerleader and graduate with a 4.0.
"I lost all of those opportunities because I wasn't able to come back (that spring). It was devastating," he said.
While in Hurricane, Saldana got a full-time job at a restaurant in St. George and was able to attend school during the last quarter. But falling behind in school was the hardest for him.
"I cried a lot — I had always wanted to graduate with a 4.0."
When school got out that summer, he decided he was ready to come back to Hunter High — even if he had to do it on his own.
By the end of the summer he had moved into a
That fall he enrolled in the
But a full-time job, school, homework and college applications left him with little time to even sleep.
"Finding enough time for everything was the biggest challenge — sometimes I wished a week was a day," he said. "I had no time to go out with my friends, go shopping, no time for me."
He said it was hard sometimes seeing so many students who lived at home, were supported by their parents and didn't even have to work.
"They have food and expenses and cars paid for, and then there is me, who has to pay for everything," Saldana said. "But I believe life comes to everyone differently. I believe you have to deal with whatever situation you're in.
"I would think sometimes that I wasn't going to graduate and I should just give up trying and let everyone see that I was a failure," Saldana said. "But teachers and counselors encouraged me and let me know that they believed in me and that they thought I could do great things, and that's what has kept me going."
After a lot of work, sleepless nights and encouragement from faculty, Saldana is graduating this spring with a 3.975 GPA.
Saldana, whose family came to the
"Proving to everyone that I could be who I am and succeed was what kept me motivated and gave me the strength to show other people that sexual orientation, race, color doesn't really matter," Saldana said. "It's your ability, your belief in yourself, your own encouragement and your self-esteem that takes you places."
See: Gay teen learns importance of self-esteem, self-reliance
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