How a pink cowboy hat helped save this Conejo Valley graduate's life
Eileen Belanger strode on to the stage of Century Academy's multipurpose room on Tuesday afternoon, her graduation robes and master's hood billowing behind her.
But on her head, the teacher and counselor wore an unorthodox piece of graduation regalia: a brand new cowboy hat, brim dipping low across her face.
Belanger doesn't usually wear cowboy hats. She's more of a baseball cap person, she said, and had to buy this one special for the occasion.
But this hat was the fulfillment of a promise to just one of them — a promise she made four years ago.
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Forty-two students graduated Tuesday afternoon from the hybrid high school in Thousand Oaks that offers schooling online and in person.
One student, Luca Barrington-Lenders, stood tall while Belanger told the crowd about the pact she and Assistant Principal Yuliya Eisenberg made with the 18-year-old when she was on the verge of dropping out of school entirely.
"We asked her what we had to do to get her to stay," Belanger said.
Barrington-Lenders, an avid collector of cowboy hats, found an answer quick: She wanted a pink cow print cowboy hat, and Belanger had to wear a cowboy hat during the graduation ceremony.
On Monday, Belanger handed Barrington-Lenders a light pink cow print cowboy hat. On Tuesday, she donned her own, this one a practical tan.
For Barrington-Lenders, this moment was about more than graduation. When she came to Century, she said she was struggling with substance abuse and resigned herself to dropping out and pursuing a career in hairdressing.
"I didn't think I'd live," she said.
But her relationships with Belanger and Eisenberg, including that cowboy-hat pact, gave her a reason to keep pushing.
"They're the reason I'm alive," she said. "I wouldn't want them to have to get the call that I died."
Now, instead of hairdressing, Barrington-Lenders wants to become a lawyer, helping victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse. That vision is drawn from experiences she said lived through as a child.
"I want to be the lawyer I needed," she said.
After the ceremony, the pair posed while family and friends snapped photos.
Perched atop Luca's mortarboard was a felt cowboy hat, covered in light pink cow print.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: How a pink cowboy hat helped save this Conejo Valley graduate's life
