Shai Lashley remains isolated, motivated

When she walks into the house upon returning from school, junior Shai Lashley goes straight to her room. She passes by her sister and her sister’s father, keeping to herself and finishing homework and extra credit work. While falling asleep she thinks of the family that she feels excluded from. She pictures the relationship she had with her mother and wishes for it back.

“I want to go back with my mom, but I can’t,” she said. She had to leave her mother at the beginning of sophomore year when her sister’s father was granted full custody of her.“I was with her a lot; we did everything together” Lashley said. “We’re best friends.”

The connection she had with her mother was lost when she moved from Fresno to Stockton to live with her younger sister and her sister’s father. The move was hard on her because she had to adjust to a family she hardly knew.“It was hard to go from somebody I can relate to, to someone I hardly talk to.”

Despite the drastic transition, Lashley hasn’t let it affect her performance in school. School is a getaway from her uncomfortable situation at home.

“I use school as an escape because I don’t like being around them,” she said. “They have that father-daughter thing and I’m alone.”

Even though Lashley doesn’t rely on her family at home for support, she still manages to keep her grades up because of her motivation. She wants to succeed in life by graduating high school and getting accepted into college.

To prepare for the rigorous college schedule Lashley is in Honors U.S. History this year, and her teacher Stewart Jacoby took note of her quiet determination.“She knows she’s going somewhere,” he said. “She’s not wasting time hanging out or being a kid.”

Jacoby noticed that she was “on-task and serious” about her work which led him to recommend her for Girls State, a program where one girl from each school is chosen to spend a week working with girls from different parts of the state to create their own self-governed city. Even though Lashley wasn’t chosen to participate in the program she was still honored to be nominated.

Although she accepts the distant relationship she has with her sister and sister’s father, sometimes she wishes she was comfortable around them.

“Some days when I see them together, I wish I had that with him,” she said. “But it’s just easy to be by myself because we always argue.”

Lashley doesn’t bring her home problems to school with her, and according to Jacoby, she takes care of business with pride. “She’s focused and capable and is an example of a outstanding Stagg student,” he said.