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Pasco turnaround honoree: 'No one else is going to do it for you'

 
Emotion sweeps over Leah A. Potkay-Cornell, right, of Hudson High School as graduation enhancement coach Doreen Grote tells her story during Pasco County’s Turnaround Achievement Awards recently in San Antonio, Fla.
Emotion sweeps over Leah A. Potkay-Cornell, right, of Hudson High School as graduation enhancement coach Doreen Grote tells her story during Pasco County’s Turnaround Achievement Awards recently in San Antonio, Fla.
Published May 26, 2016

The date is etched in Leah Potkay-Cornell's mind: July 1, 2010.

It's the day her father died and her life began to spiral downward.

"My mom started to become an alcoholic again, which was really hard on me and the kids," said Potkay-Cornell, who was in middle school at the time. "My mom drank every single day. She was never home. I had to be the mom for my four siblings."

They moved from shelter to trailer park to other homes every few months. Potkay-Cornell struggled, but made it through her freshman year at Hudson High School.

Then her mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer.

To care for her family, Potkay-Cornell dropped out of school in her second semester of 10th grade. She wasn't sure if she ever would go back, although she wanted to.

Three months after the cancer diagnosis, Potkay-Cornell's mom fell and wound up in hospice. She lived another week.

"She said, 'Go back to school and get your diploma,' " the girl, now an 18-year-old senior, recalled, holding back tears. "That was the last thing she said, 'Go get your damn diploma.' "

With the support of newly adoptive parents, who also took in her siblings, and caring teachers, Potkay-Cornell did just that. She made up her missed credits and caught up to graduate with her friends on time this spring.

"We placed her in the right direction," said Hudson High graduation coach Doreen Grote, who nominated Potkay-Cornell as the school's 2016 turnaround student of the year. "She did all the work. She had a mind-set that nothing was going to stop her."

Every year, the Pasco County School District celebrates students who overcome obstacles to discover success in education and life. These children have endured failing grades and discipline problems, homelessness and broken homes, poor choices and lack of support.

Yet somehow, they summon the inner strength to battle back and find what district career education director Terry Aunchman deems their "awesomeness."

One by one, the students beamed broadly last week as their teachers told their tales of triumph over adversity. The audience applauded and cheered the news of improved attendance, grades, behavior and attitude.

Kayla Johnson, an 18-year-old senior at Gulf High School, said it took strong will and desire to make it to her graduation — a place Johnson, her friends and teachers had once wondered if she would ever arrive.

"When I went to Gulf High, I started two weeks late," she recalled. "I was already a drug addict for at least two years. … I don't know how I made it to ninth grade, but I did."

She got suspended shortly after arriving, and missed 48 days of the first semester.

"She just didn't care," principal Kim Davis said.

Johnson explained that she grew up in a "very broken home," where she had no real oversight or direction.

"I lived with my mom. She basically let me do whatever I wanted," Johnson said. "So I did whatever I wanted. I was a very depressed young person. I had to find a release, and when I did she never told me no."

Marijuana gave way to drinking, then briefly Xanax. She said she did her first line of cocaine at age 13, while still attending Gulf Middle School.

"I loved the feeling of not being in reality," Johnson said. "I hated reality."

When her mom went to jail and the state Department of Children and Families came calling, Johnson realized she had to change. "I couldn't live the life I was living anymore."

Her grandmother pushed the school to allow Johnson into its health career academy, despite her record.

"It went against our better judgment," Davis said. "But I saw something in Kayla that would make her successful."

Davis made an exception, and Johnson took full advantage, becoming a strong student and active volunteer who has completed her certified nursing assistant license. She will continue classes at Pasco-Hernando State College in the fall.

Eligio Rodriguez, her boyfriend and a friend since seventh grade, said he once stopped communicating with Johnson because he couldn't watch her throw her life away. He came back when he saw her trying to improve.

"I've seen this girl go through some pretty rough stuff," he said outside the awards ceremony. "To see her today is just mind-blowing. I never would have thought that we would be where we are today."

Johnson said the key is wanting better, and then accepting help along the way. If you don't care for your own well-being, she explained, all the best intentions and advice by others matter little.

Once the realization hits, she said, "you literally just have to purify your life, and you will be happy and you will succeed."

Potkay-Cornell agreed that self-motivation and support can make all the difference. She figured out what she wanted, and had teachers and family behind her.

"People who want something, they should reach for it," said Potkay-Cornell, who will study at Pasco-Hernando State College in the fall. "They shouldn't stop for their hard life. They can't complain, 'I can't do this. I have a horrible life.' You've got to want it to achieve it. No one else is going to do it for you."

Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at jsolochek@tampabay.com or (813) 909-4614. Follow @JeffSolochek.