Student Success Stories

Josue went to school in his native El Salvador until 10th grade when getting an education became too dangerous. Violence between his school and a rival school even led to two classmates being chased by 25 other teens with knives, sticks and other weapons. After leaving school Josue took a job with the postal service… Read more »

Born and raised in Nigeria, Ekene Paschal’s journey has been exciting to say the least. Growing up with five siblings, he entered the United States with his uncle and his family in order to achieve a better life and future. Ekene’s fascination with computers and technology drew him close to the Carlos Rosario School. Ekene… Read more »

Father (Fr.) Denis Mandamuna’s calling is to serve his community and inspire change in his surroundings. The Carlos Rosario School has helped him branch off to new experiences and has influenced him to change the world around him. As a young boy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Fr. Denis suffered the loss of his… Read more »

In 2005 after the pressures to join a local gang got too intense, Ruben’s mom helped him leave his home country of El Salvador and come to the U.S. He traveled alone at age 18, but met family members and childhood friends once he arrived in Washington, D.C. Ruben had been working as a busboy… Read more »

Through the Carlos Rosario School registration process, Aqueline an ESL student from Brazil, learned an important lesson. Aqueline moved to the U.S. with her husband in November 2014. She soon realized that she didn’t have connections in the U.S. and in order to relate to others she needed to learn English. “I knew I needed… Read more »

Geovanny Vicente Romero is a graduate of the Carlos Rosario School’s ESL program. He started working as a paraeducator at the School in spring 2016. He wrote about his journey from being a government official in the Dominican Republic to working for fellow immigrants in Washington, D.C. I moved to Washington, D.C. in June 2015,… Read more »

Mario moved to the United States from Mexico in 1991, looking to support his family. At 20-years-old, he had just arrived in Washington, DC when he enrolled at the Carlos Rosario School. He took one semester of English, and got the basics of the language. Coming here, he says, “was difficult at first, I had… Read more »

Julia left high school in her home country of Cameroon because her father didn’t have the money to send all of his eight children, and she wanted to be sure her brothers continued their education. She completed a healthcare training program knowing that the certificate was a quick way to a job where she could… Read more »

Julio Rodriguez, a Carlos Rosario School graduate, keeps himself busy in the community. He is an active leader, providing workshops on substance abuse, facilitating classes about family relations, and serving as vice president of the literacy organization CENAES. In these positions, he is now helping to provide some of the services that he needed and… Read more »