Marysville Mountain View High School student Rachel Kalma has not had an easy start at life. When Rachel was just 17 years old and a junior in high school, she found out she was pregnant.

"I was never in a lot of trouble, I just didn't make the right choices," Rachel explained. "I was pregnant and dropped out of high school for two years because I thought being with her dad and not going to school would be better, but it wasn't."

After she left her baby's father, Rachel knew she had to take control of her life. Over the past two years she has gone through some dramatic changes, resulting in both blessings and heartaches.

Rachel returned to school last year, jokingly calling herself a "super senior" at 20 years old. She tries to participate in school activities as much as possible, adding, "I want to make a name for myself. I want people to remember me as a good person when I graduate this June. I don't want to be at school just to be there. I like being a part of school."

As part of her school involvement over the past year, Rachel has helped organize various events including a Hurricane Katrina relief fundraiser and local food drives. She works as an office TA, and helps out in the school's daycare program.

Rachel's exemplary attitude toward her schoolwork and activities has helped her to receive the 2009 Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE) Scholarship, which pays for six quarters of tuition at any public, private or technical college.

To qualify for the WAVE scholarship, the applicant must graduate from high school with 360 hours in a single career or technical education program. The State WAVE Selection Committee reads and scores applications and selects three students from each legislative district as winners of the scholarship award. To maintain the scholarship, the students must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA throughout the school term.

Rachel completed her 360 hours in business classes, where she excelled in Business English, record keeping and building PowerPoint presentations.

"My teachers had mentioned the scholarship to me and told me they thought that with my circumstances, this would be something good for me," said Rachel. "They want me to make something of myself."

Rachel admits that she doesn't have time to participate in extracurricular activities. "I had to take care of my baby so just being a mom was what I did in my spare time," said Rachel.

Growing up, Rachel did not have a steady relationship with her father, so she relied on her mother and grandmother for support. When Rachel decided to go back to school to make sure her two-year-old daughter, Cassadee, had a better future, the two older women took care of the toddler. Tragically, halfway through completing her high school degree, both Rachel's mother and grandmother passed away, less than a month apart from each other.

"Our family knew my mom had cancer since last year," said Rachel. "I took care of my mom; I gave her shots, took her to her hospital visits, and helped her during her six months of chemotherapy as she battled liver, lung, and ovarian cancer."

After her mother's aggressive medical treatment, the tumors plaguing her body subsided and she started to feel better for awhile. Then in late December, Rachel said, "I knew something was wrong. Two days after a hospital visit, we found out her cancer had spread to her brain and bones. The doctors gave her 2 weeks to live, and she died a day and a half later on January 12."

Just one week after the death of Rachel's mother, her grandmother felt sick and went into the hospital where she was diagnosed with cancer in her lymph glands. In only eight days, the cancer shut down her vital organs and claimed her grandmother's life.

"They were my two main support systems," said the young mother.

"A lot of people my age are not moms, and they haven't been through what I have," Rachel stated. "I am strong. I went back to school two days after my mom died because that's where I needed to be. I had to finish."

After graduating from high school, Rachel plans to use her scholarship towards a nursing degree, eventually becoming a Registered Nurse (RN).

"I want to be an RN because of what I went through with my mom," she explained. "The information just clicked with me, and I want to help people."

"Other than that, my main goal is to take care of my daughter in a good way. I want to live a happy life with her and not have to depend on others for help. I want to be able to do it on my own."