CAMDEN (KYW Newsradio) — The Camden City School District has honored 30 high schoolers who overcame a year stacked against them.
Every year at the "Back on Track" program, teachers and principals recognize students from Camden high schools who turned their grades and lives around.
The virtual event looked different due to COVID-19, but many of the students like Amaj Tuten from Brimm Medical Arts High School still received recognition.
He not only overcame remote learning challenges, but losing his parents.
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"Working remotely has been a difficult transition. In spite of the technical issues and his own personal struggles, he’s pulled himself together this past month," said Brimm Medical Arts Principal Corinne Macrina.
It was a celebratory moment for high school students like Pauline and teachers like Melissa Herder of Camden Big Picture Learning Academy.
*We got to a point where I could not let a day go by without telling (Pauline) I loved her," Herder said.
"What they didn’t know at that school where they suspended her, and continuously kicked her out of class, was that she was helping her very ill mother manage their home."
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She helped Pauline overcome her adversity and get back on track.
For them and others in attendance, it was a moment of celebration for their resilience despite all that’s going on in the world.
School and community leaders expressed that It was especially important this year, during so much chaos, to celebrate the Camden students turning "can’t into can."
The event was in partnership with the Camden City Rotary Club. They hope it will be back in-person next year.