By Sahar Chmais

During her time at the Impact Center, Sylvia Villejo experienced a lot of heartache, from watching some students addicted to drugs, dying or just seeing the difficulty of their home life. Villejo also saw many good times; her proudest were watching students correct their path after graduation.

As principal of the Impact Center, Villejo could fill a book with her daily encounters, like being in the middle of a fight, depositing lunch money into student accounts, sewing holes in unif...