ESTANCIA HIGH SCHOOL: With help from her friends

High school took Taylor Schow five years to finish — four in the classroom and one in the hospital and rehabilitation center.

Just two years ago, near the end of her junior year, she fainted at Estancia High School and was rushed to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian with a brain hemorrhage. Her family and friends never imagined she wouldn’t leave the hospital for two months.

Because she was in the highly regulated intensive care unit, most of her friends couldn’t come and visit her, and she lost touch with them.

“I think it was tough for them to be stuck with me,” Taylor said. “I felt like I was a burden on them.”

While in the hospital, Taylor was helpless. Tubes connected all over her body performed all of her necessary functions such as eating and breathing. To make matters worse, her treatment led to bacterial meningitis, which kept her away from school and friends for a total of 11 months.

When she finally returned to Estancia, it made the most sense to start up where she left off, in 11th grade. This meant she would have to continue her schooling after all of her friends graduated.

“I was really sad at the beginning of this year because all of my friends have graduated; but I have new friends here, and I love everyone,” Taylor said.

When Taylor returned, she had to use a walker to get around. After two months, she exchanged the walker for a cane, but as senior prom approached, she became determined to kick her disability.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to prom with a cane. I’m going to walk on my own,’” Schow said.

Through the whole harrowing process, she says everyone at school was very supportive.

“People were so nice and so understanding because they knew what happened,” Schow said.

Class president, triathlete wants to become a doctor

Oscar Lara didn’t let his alcoholic father stop him from having a sparkling academic career. In fact, if he let his alcoholic father stop him from doing anything at all, it is completely unapparent — the Estancia High School graduate has done more activities than three normal high school students combined.

For as long as Oscar can remember his father has been an alcoholic. His mom would constantly kick his dad out of the house. Near the beginning of Oscar’s high school career, he says his father finally sobered up for a while, but last year he began drinking again and moved down to Mexico to live with family.

“I strive for success to prove I’m better than he is, to prove that I am capable of doing something even with a father like him,” Oscar said.

And he has proved it and then some. Oscar took six advanced placement classes, earned a 3.8 GPA and won multiple prestigious scholarships while working long hours to help support his family. At points Oscar has worked 31-hour weeks at a sandwich shop while attending school in order to make extra money to help supplement what his mother makes working at a veterinary hospital.

“My mom works a lot, but it’s not enough to support a family,” he said.

As if work and school weren’t enough, Oscar was elected class president as a freshman, then again as a sophomore, and a junior, and a senior. He also played three sports and this year was the assistant coach of the TeWinkle Middle School volleyball team.

Now Oscar is headed to UCI, where he will study biology in hopes of becoming a doctor. He has won more than $20,000 annually for his entire college career in scholarships including the $10,000 per year Isadore Meyers Scholarship for students with immigrant parents, and the $7,000 per year CAP Scholarship from the school district.

One day Oscar wants to have a family of his own and be a better father than his ever was.

“I want to be there for my kids,” he said.

SCHOOL STATS

AVERAGE GPA FOR SENIORS: 3.0

PROM KING AND QUEEN: Juan Palacio and Shea Kopp

HOMECOMING KING AND QUEEN: Ryan Redding and Abby Koff

PERCENT OF SENIORS GOING TO COLLEGE: 94%

NUMBER OF GRADUATING SENIORS: 242

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.