When it came to role models, Diana Ortiz said her mother, Marcia Dominguez, was the "hero". Ms. Dominguez came to the United States from Cuba in 1979. She went to college and got a job as a social worker --- all the while raising three children in America mostly on her own. "It was always school first," Diana said, "My mom had us in a straight line. If we got out of line, she corrected us. She was a perfect woman. She was beautiful, she had the education and she had everything --- but the illness took over. When I was 11, it frightened me to see how quickly my mother's health was ruined by cancer. A week before I turned 14, my mother died at age 50. I had tried to prepare myself, but on the first morning I woke up without my mother, the sense of loss was painful." Diana had not seen her father for five years, who refused to provide for her. Diana then entered the city's foster care system. She has spent about four years in foster homes. Despite Diana's hard teenage years, the values her mother had planted in her mind inspired her to go after higher education. Since August 2010, she has been a fulltime student majoring in law. A public organization offers her tuition but she has part-time jobs to help people like her and earn more life experience. Her goal is a job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For now, Diana works 20 hours a week as a cashier at Marshalls, earning $7.25 an hour. In November, she moved into her own public housing studio apartment on the Lower East Side. She pays $236 a month in rent. Although she is out of foster care, Diana has been speaking at workshops for foster youths. She emphasizes that nothing should get in the way of their success, not the trials of their lives or what they may have lost. "I tell the young who have the similar experience like me, 'Why are you going to let what happened to you affect you in the long run?' " Diana said. " 'Why are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself? You're wasting precious time.' It is a message my mother would approve of. My mom taught me that everything is not given to you. You have to go out and get it." What made Diana go on with her education despite there are so many difficulties?
The sense of loss from her mother's death. The eagerness to achieve success. The deep influence of her mother's values. The wish to win prizes to please her mother.