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At 21, Uniquea Lancaster is slightly older than the average high school senior, but the former high school dropout had an above-average drive to graduate from Fairmont Heights High School.

Lancaster walked the stage June 10 at Upper Marlboro's Show Place Arena as a graduate of the Capitol Heights school, a feat that seemed distant when she dropped out of school seven years ago because of a frustrating learning disability.

Lancaster was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in the Bronx, N.Y. She dropped out of high school at 14. She said she was a "hardheaded" child who was apathetic about her future.

"I felt school was too hard, too difficult," Lancaster said. "That was one of the reasons I dropped out."

Lancaster worked restaurant jobs for four years before realizing she wanted to give school a second chance but in a different place. She moved in with her cousin in Washington, D.C. and enrolled at Fairmont Heights High School three years ago as a special education transfer. She declined to say what disability she had.

Lancaster said she occasionally wondered if students would judge her based on her age.

"A few times I would sit back and think of it, but the younger ones, they would say, ‘It's good you're going back to school,'" Lancaster said. "I had no shame."

Lancaster encountered difficulty at first when her New York school papers classified her with a more severe disability than she actually had. Pupil Personnel Worker Ethel Levine said this means she has great adaptive skills and everyday interaction but she may not necessarily read and write on grade level.

Levine said she labored to get the status changed.

"She wanted to ensure that her special education coding was accurate," Levine said. "She requested that the [school] team meet on her and that the New York records were cleaned up so that what was on paper was more representative of her as a learner."

Levine said Lancaster knew the county permitted special education students to stay in school until age 21. She said Lancaster could have easily been disregarded but she became her own advocate.

Levine said most students do not fight as hard for what they need or are entitled to as much as Lancaster.

"Sometimes kids are like ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, help me with this,'" Levine said. "She is just genuine. You can just tell she's so appreciative of what anybody ever offers her. You can see it in her smile, her outlook."

Lancaster said she found a good friend in Levine as well as principal Peggy Nicholson and teachers such as math teacher Hazel Apor.

Apor said she knows math is not Lancaster's favorite subject but that she tries her best and is respectful. She said Lancaster is a sweet girl and hopes college is in her future.

"That's what we want from our students, a dream to finish and be successful in life," Apor said.

Lancaster is not enrolled in any post-secondary school at the moment but hopes to become a psychiatrist one day and work with youth because she likes to talk with people about their problems.

"This school has helped me overcome a lot of things," Lancaster said. "If there's anyone who dropped out, go back to school. It's not that hard. I did it."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.