SAN ANTONIO – Sara Hernandez dropped out of school several times. She became homeless and addicted to crack. She had a child at the age of 17.
Her life was well down the road to ruin, she said, when a stint in the Bexar County Jail served as a wake up call to her.
"I didn't want to end up a 30-year-old with no high school diploma and in jail for drug addiction or for doing something that wasn't worth the consequences," Hernandez said.
She enrolled in San Antonio Can High School. Right away economics teacher Hector Rodriguez knew he could help her use her feisty attitude to be successful.
"I have been a businessman. I have been in the military, and this is what you want in your soldiers, in your employees, and this is what we need in our classroom, " Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez seems to have a knack for getting his students to succeed.
"Make it relevant to my students about everyday life in this world," Rodriguez said.
"He teaches you lessons you'll remember 20 years from now when you are filling out a tax form," Hernandez said.
When it came time for her and her classmates to graduate though, the only local supplier was all out of caps and gowns. Sara consulted with Hector, and Hernandez ended up solving the problem all on her own.
"I ended up getting me and my classmates our caps and gowns from an out of state supplier and we loved them, " Hernandez said.
That was the genesis for Sara's Cap and Gown Company. Hernandez plans to expand across the state, primarily dealing with alternative schools such as San Antonio Can. She is also enrolled at Palo Alto College with a 3.80, and she plans to go on from there.
"I plan to get a masters of business administration with a concentration in supply management and I also plan to get a bachelors in logistics and supply chain," Hernandez said.
"Sara has come such a long way, but she never gave up, and we didn't give up on her, and that's what it takes," Rodriguez said.