What did the graduates of the Class of 2023 learn from their high school experience? Mountain Ridge High School graduate Youse Grandin, a refugee who has lived in four countries and learned four languages, is a single new mother and who is determined to succeed at whatever she decides to do, has learned: “I choose to do it and I do it. Nothing is easy in life. You just have to figure out how you want to do it.”

Youse has figured out that she wants to be a good student, a hard worker and a good mother.

“Youse is a very driven, motivated and fun-loving person,” her foster father Jared Purser said. “She has set goals to become very successful in life and I have no doubt that she will accomplish anything she sets her mind to.”

In the last six months, Youse has learned English, tried to start her own cleaning company, had a baby, taken two AP classes and graduated high school.

Mountain Ridge High School English Language Development teacher Lora Gubler said what makes Youse’s accomplishments even more inspiring is that she achieved them despite many challenges.

“Some kids, if even one of the things that happened to Youse happened to them, they would just completely shut down and not do anything,” she said. “But she is the opposite. She just doesn’t let that stop her. She’s working hard and she’s gotten great grades this year despite having a baby, and despite being in the foster system and despite not having her mom or any family members with her.”

At the age of 8, Youse and her mother fled Haiti. They lived in Dominican Republic, then Chile, then Florida before Youse was placed with a foster family in Utah through Catholic Community Services.

Youse was 32 weeks pregnant when she enrolled at Mountain Ridge High School. When her baby was born in late November, she continued her schoolwork through the school’s Home and Hospital program until she was ready to return to in-person classes. She said many encouraged her to drop out of school, but she was determined to graduate.

“Me graduating, a lot of people say I will not do it,” she said. “If I just choose to hear what everybody say, then I probably would stop. But I didn’t. I just feel so good about it when I can stand up and say ‘You say I won’t and I did, so you cannot say anything else.’ If I want to, I will.”

Youse said she has had many people offer advice about her life, but she tells them she will decide for herself.

“You don’t have to choose what I can do,” she said. “You can give me a suggestion. You can tell me something. But you cannot say, ‘You have to.’ Because I don’t have to do anything. I just have to do what I feel like I want to do.”

Youse wanted to graduate high school and she wanted to get top grades. Her grades took a hit each time she moved to a new country, but she always worked hard to learn the language so she could continue her progress. She received a university scholarship in Chile, which she had to give up when she moved to the U.S.

Gubler is amazed at the progress Youse has made with her education and with her English skills.

“For the amount of English that she speaks, to be able to succeed that well in her classes, it’s really amazing,” she said.

With her language learning experiences—she speaks French, Creole and two dialects of Spanish—Youse learned English faster than most English language learners, said Gubler. She also had a big advantage of living with an English-speaking foster family, which provided more experience to practice her language skills.

Gubler was surprised when Youse approached her to ask what she needed to do to speak at graduation, something no other English language learner has wanted to do.

“She’s not afraid to ask for help or to advocate for herself, which I think a lot of students nowadays lack that skill,” Gubler said. “If she isn’t understanding something in the class, or if she has a goal for something, she will say, ‘This is what I need to do. This is what I want to do. I need help with this.’” 

Determined to raise her baby and to be independent, Youse, who had limited work opportunities as a refugee, started her own cleaning company to earn money.

“Her work ethic is like nobody I know,” said Jaci Purser, Youse’s foster mom. “She is an extremely hard worker. She has had many challenges in her life—more than any child should. But she is very motivated to make something of herself and not let her past define her or control what she can become in this life. She has a new life in America now and the possibilities are endless.”

Youse hopes to work as a criminal lawyer someday, but to pay her way through law school, she plans to go to nursing school to secure a steady job. She also wants to find a way to help the people of her home country of Haiti, maybe even being president of Haiti someday.

Youse said she is not afraid of having to start over again or of facing new challenges.

“Life is challenging, you see, so you never know what’s going to happen if you never try,” she said.λ