Four Anchorage graduates

About 3,100 students are graduating from Anchorage School District this month in more than a dozen ceremonies that end next week.

Each graduate has his or her own story to tell and plans for what comes next. Some will plunge into the workforce. Some will enter the military. Some will enroll in college classes. Others have yet to figure it out.

Last week, four Anchorage graduates talked with Alaska Dispatch News about their pasts and their futures.

Meet Manoah, Jack, Kao Lee and Iyanna:

Manoah "Brother" James

Manoah James is 18 years old and has moved around a lot. He has spent time sleeping in a tent. He has lived in his family's car. He has wandered the streets of Anchorage, once lasting four days on one box of Saltine crackers because that's all he could afford.

But Manoah doesn't want his past to define his future. He walked across the stage at West High School's graduation Tuesday, his cap pulled down over his long dark hair. He had an internship at the Southcentral Foundation, a place to stay in Fairview and plans to go to college.

"I was a young Alaska Native man that was homeless and on the street, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let that define who I am. I am going to pick myself up and just keep going," he said. "I'm going to choose to do better."

Manoah is Tlingit and was born in Juneau. He got the nickname "Brother" as a child and it just stuck, he said. Manoah moved with his mother to Washington and New Mexico before returning to Alaska. He has two sisters — one older and one younger. Money was always tight and food sometimes scarce, he said.

A difficult home life eventually drove him to leave. He was 17, about to turn 18.

Manoah lived on the streets for a few days, before going to Covenant House on July 3, 2015. That day was probably the most important of his life, he said, though high school graduation ranks pretty high too. This fall, Manoah plans to go to college, either at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Fort Lewis College in Colorado or Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas.

"I want to completely destroy the stereotype that a Native person can't be successful," he said.

Jack Sexauer

Jack Sexauer graduated at the top of his class with a 4.5 GPA and a dream to become one of Alaska's U.S. senators. The 17-year-old has grown from a quiet and smart elementary school student to the gregarious president of South High School's debate team, homecoming king and valedictorian.

The most important thing he's learned along the way? Find your passion, he said on Tuesday.

"Not everyone is going to be academically gifted or athletic or artistic. But I do believe that everyone has a passion," he said. "Everyone has a unique skill that sets them apart from someone else."

Jack said he is most passionate about the high school debate team. He didn't talk much in class during elementary and middle school, but at the prodding of his friend he joined debate in ninth grade. It unlocked his ability to speak in public, he said.

Throughout high school, Jack enrolled in Advanced Placement classes. He never got a B. He graduated with the highest GPA in South High history, according to the school's principal. Jack said his mother will tell you that ever since he heard the word "valedictorian" in second or third grade, he decided it was a title he wanted for himself.

See more photos of Manoah, Jack, Kao Lee and Iyanna and other 2016 Anchorage graduates

"It's always been kind of a dream for me," Jack said. He said he was accepted at the University of Michigan and is on the waitlist for Harvard University.

"I really do care about learning as much as possible," he said.

Kao Lee Xiong

Kao Lee Xiong is a mother, a wife and a daughter-in-law. She is also a 17-year-old graduate from Bartlett High School who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand.

She doesn't remember much about life there. She does remember dirt and her home's leaky roof. She remembers that most people didn't wear shoes.

"In Thailand there are many hardships," she said.

In 2004, Kao Lee left Thailand. She moved with her parents, five brothers and two sisters to Merced, California. Her parents wanted the family to have a better life. They wanted to find jobs, she said.

But it was tough in California. After eight years, the Xiong family moved to Anchorage, looking for greater opportunities. Kao Lee started her freshman year at Bartlett High School. Here, she struggled to understand advanced English words. Her first language is Hmong. It's what she still speaks at home.

Kao Lee started English Language Learner classes at Bartlett. She also met Keng Thao at Bartlett, and would later call him her husband. They married "through culture," she said. Suddenly, she said, "I had to find a balance between my homework and being a daughter-in-law."

Kao Lee gave birth to Leon Thao on March 7.

She graduated from Bartlett on Tuesday magna cum laude — a member of the National Honor Society and graduate of the school's Medical Academy. Her husband was by her side as another 2016 graduate. Their son was in the audience.

Kao Lee has a well-laid plan for life after graduation. Keng will work and Kao Lee will go to UAA to become a certified pharmacy technician. She will start working in a pharmacy and then pursue a nursing degree.

"My mom inspired me to become a nurse," Kao Lee said, remembering back to a time in California when her mother worked at a poultry company. She would come home with big cuts from handling chickens."At the time, I couldn't help her."

Iyanna Craig

Iyanna Craig plans to save money before she pursues her dream of becoming an anesthesiologist. Since age 16, she has always had a job. Sometimes she has had two or three at one time, she said.

"I'm going to take however many days or months or years off to make up for that gap of money that I need to pay for my college," said 17-year-old Iyanna, moments before Benny Benson Secondary School's graduation ceremony started Thursday evening.

Thursday was also the first night Iyanna would see her mother in about two years. Iyanna's parents are divorced and her mother moved to California. Iyanna said she almost cried when she heard her mother would be in town for graduation. She was so excited.

"When I finally got to see her I was just so ecstatic. I was just so happy that she could come all this way," she said.

Iyanna said she transferred to Benny Benson from East High School because she wanted to graduate in three years instead of four. Benny Benson Principal Frank Reuter said the school doesn't often serve students like Iyanna. Instead, it primarily serves students who have to recover credits because of poor attendance or bad grades, among other reasons.

Iyanna said she was simply tired of working in retail.

"I realized that every job I wanted said in the application that you need a GED or high school diploma or equivalent. It just motivated me to get my diploma faster," she said.

For a while, Iyanna also had to work to pay her rent when she briefly moved out of her father's and stepmother's house. As one of nine children, the house could get loud and she wanted privacy, she said. But as Iyana worked on a self-paced class schedule at Benny Benson this spring, she moved back home.

With a high school diploma now in hand, Iyanna said she hopes to become a certified pharmacy technician and eventually an anesthesiologist once she saves enough money. Until then, it's work and more work.

"I wish someone would just watch me for a day,'" she said, "and just say, 'Hey, Iyanna. You need to slow down."