Nicole Horton

When her mother – who home-schooled Nicole and her brother – became incapacited by illness, Nicole assumed the role of caretaker until her mother’s death. Nicole was 12. Living in a house filled with books, Nicole educated herself, learning algebra from a text book, checking her answers in the back of the book, and turning in finished assignments to no one. When she entered the school system she was a year ahead academically, two years ahead in math. She escaped an unfortunate early marriage and is now raising her three-year-old son as a single mother, in family campus housing that offers childcare. She is interested in a career in law enforcement. “Some of life’s most worthwhile lessons,” she feels, “come at the greatest expense.”