“It Was My Teachers That Raised Me”

It wasn’t unusual to hear a former student thank a teacher at Hillhouse’s graduation ceremony — until you learned the back story.

The former student and rocketing New Haven success story was Toddchelle Young, who graduated from James Hillhouse High School in 2008 and whose journey has taken her from the Brookside projects and an 11-year-old’s hairdressing gig to grad school and beyond.

Young returned to her alma mater Tuesday to give the commencement speech at the Floyd Little Field House on Sherman Avenue and to thank the teachers who helped navigate some tough times.

Young entered Hillhouse as a West Rock teen struggling to support her family. She recounted how the “‘House family” helped her not only through high school, but for years after, after her family became homeless and she had nowhere to go. 

Hillhouse’s was one of nine high school graduation ceremonies that took place in New Haven Tuesday evening. About 1,000 seniors graduated this week, according to schools Chief Operating Officer Will Clark.

Taking the stage in her graduation gown from Georgetown University, Young urged the students — 159 from Hillhouse and another 20 from satellite programs — to pursue higher goals.

“If I can make it, you can make it,” she told them. ​“I came from where you come from.”

Offstage, she recounted the obstacles she faced in her own life and how Hillhouse staff quietly came together to help her. She did so in an interview in the Westville backyard of her biggest supporters — Hillhouse teacher Jack Paulishen and his wife, Michelle, who teaches at Edgewood School.

After Young’s family became homeless, the couple took her in and became her surrogate parents. For three years, she has lived with the Paulishens during summers and visits to New Haven.

The support has helped her soar. Young left Hillhouse as the valedictorian. She graduated from Georgetown University in May. Earlier this year, she addressed President Obama in an invocation at a Martin Luther King Day celebration at The Kennedy Center in D.C. Now she’s starting a master’s program in public health at Columbia University.

“From Brookside to Westville Manor to Georgetown to President Obama … this young lady is amazing,” said Hillhouse Principal Kermit Carolina, who invited her back to the school to speak.

“Toddchelle, you make us all proud,” he said.

Her story began at Brookside, the since-razed housing projects (and now rebuilt) in an isolated part of the city way out in the shadow of West Rock. Her family later moved to the nearby Westville Manor public-housing development.

Responsibility fell on her shoulders from an early age. Her parents split up when she was 8, leaving her mom alone to raise three children. Her mom had to quit her job to take care of her eldest son, who needed blood transfusions for sickle cell anemia.

The family was struggling on state aid. Young looked for a way to contribute.

Starting at age 11, she set out in the neighborhood to earn money as a hairdresser. At first, she earned $10 for braiding each neighbor’s hair.

It wasn’t much, Young said, but it helped.

When Young hit the 8th grade, her mom gave birth to another baby boy. Her mom fell into a depression. She was ​“not productive,” Young said. Her mom did her best to give the family what it needed, but she needed help.

“When she could not do it, I stepped in,” Young recalled.

Young kept busy in school. Between classes, homework, basketball, and the math team, ​“I managed to contribute.” As her hairdressing business grew, she began to earn $30 or $40 a pop.

Through a program at Hillhouse, she trained as an emergency medical technician at age 16. She landed an internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital, bringing in $50 a week.

Staff at Hillhouse ​“knew my situation,” she said. Then-Assistant Principal Carolina, who knew Young’s mom, kept an eye out for her. He held her up as an example to her peers — even framing her junior year transcript, which showed a blazing trail of straight As. When kids came up with excuses for failing in school, he’d point to her transcript as an example: Toddchelle did it; you can, too.

Carolina helped her sign up for free bus passes when her family moved across town to Quinnipiac Avenue.

Her senior year in high school, Young signed up for Model United Nations and AP Government with a teacher named ​“Mr. P.”

Jack Paulishen (the ​“Mr. P” in question) recalled driving some Model U.N. students home one October night after a class trip to a debate. Young was his last passenger. As he pulled up to Westville Manor, he noticed the rest of the kids in the neighborhood loitering under a streetlight. Young mentioned offhand that it’s a tough neighborhood — it’s isolated, far from the library, and it’s hard get your work done without a computer.

No computer?

Paulishen was shocked to hear that the school’s top performer didn’t have a basic tool. ​“You type all your papers!” he recalled telling her.

Young revealed that for the past three years, she had been staying as late as she could at Hillhouse to use the school computers.

“The library was my best friend,” she said.

If she had to work on a project after school hours, she would go to the house of one of her hairdressing clients to borrow a computer.

When he heard her story, Paulishen jumped online to a website called DonorsChoose, which helps teachers and low-income schools fund classroom resources. He posted Young’s story on the site and donations poured in. Soon enough, Young had a new computer in her hands.

Young was floored. ​“That was crazy! I didn’t know what to do. I was so shocked.”

“It hit me — I have this place to help me,” she said. ​“I [still] get speechless over that.”

Paulishen, who attended a Jesuit university, encouraged Young to apply to another one — Georgetown. Young said she was skeptical at first. But ​“if a Jesuit university can produce something as awesome as Mr. P,” she reasoned, it must be a good idea.

She got accepted at nine of 11 colleges and headed to Georgetown.

Her relationship with Mr. P grew closer after graduation. She returned to his house for dinner over spring break her freshman year in college. Mr. P’s wife Michelle overheard Young say that she didn’t have anywhere to stay.

Since she left for college, her family had become homeless, Young quietly revealed over dinner that night. Her mom and younger siblings were staying at Life Haven, a shelter for women and children.

“I had nowhere to go,” she recalled.

Young had signed up to take calculus at Southern Connecticut State University over the summer, and had landed another internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Right there, over dinner that spring break, the Paulishens offered to take her in. They had a third-floor apartment in their house; it would be no burden, they insisted.

“That’s the answer to my prayers,” Young recalled saying. ​“God puts people in your life for a reason.”

Young continues to stay with the Paulishens as she returns for summers from college. They have become a family to her, applauding her accomplishments along the way.

These days, there’s a lot to applaud. When Young addressed President Obama at the Kennedy Center in January, Paulishen got the video footage. Carolina broadcast it for the entire school at an assembly one day.

The Paulishens headed to D.C. in May to see Young become the first in her family to finish college. They watched her accept a medal for perseverance in the face of life’s obstacles. She earned a B.A. in sociology and a certificate in population health.

Young is heading to Columbia University in September to pursue a master’s in public health. Her focus is research on the health disparities that poor and minority communities face. She hopes to go on to become a doctor.

She became emotional Tuesday as she sought a way to express her gratitude. Young said students don’t appreciate teachers enough. ​“They’re underestimated — especially in New Haven and especially at Hillhouse.”

Of all the help she’s had along the way, she said, ​“my teachers have had the most significant impact on my life.”

“It was my teachers that raised me and pushed me,” she said. ​“They saw something that I didn’t see.”

From the stage at the Field House, she issued a public thanks to her mom, to Carolina, and to all of the teachers who helped her along the way — including veteran math teacher Fred Redeaux.

Then she turned to the students before her.

“Keep on pushing,” she urged. ​“I have faith in y’all.”