(DNAINFO)  Amy Zimmer | November 12, 2015 — The odds of going to college were stacked against Monei Thompson.

The Brownsville teenager had two babies before the age of 16 and dropped out of school after ninth grade. Few people, including her mom — who didn’t make it past 10th grade — believed Thompson would get a high school diploma.

She is proving her naysayers wrong. Three years ago she enrolled in Brownsville’s Brooklyn Democracy Academy, a transfer school for under-credited and overage students. She graduated in June with a B-plus average, deciding to pursue a college degree in something involving children and medicine.

Source: How a Brownsville School Helps At-Risk Students Get to College – Brownsville – DNAinfo.com New York