BOSTON -- Each week, NewsCenter 5 presents a high school senior who has taken the lessons of the classroom and applied them to life.

This week's A Plus student is Boston's Another Course to College's Taisha Sturdivant.

NewsCenter 5's Pam Cross reported that instead of being pushed off hyphen course, Sturdivant was inspired to succeed following the death of her mother.

Sturdivant is the president of her senior class at Boston's Another Course to College, a college preparatory high school in the Boston Public Schools. She heads the yearbook and mock trial team, which takes on roles in court cases. Sturdivant hopes law is in her future.

"I don't know my path; I am enjoying my becoming and I always have. But now, I love myself for different reasons," she said.

There are classes like law, psychology, advanced English.

"No matter how difficult the text, no matter how difficult the paper, she'll rise to the occasion with dramatically original insights. She is a really sharp thinker," said teacher Robert Comeau.

Sturdivant's mother died two years ago. She cherishes photos of her mother and older sister and mother and older brother. She's lived in a series of homes, but has now settled down. She said finding a home at school has helped her. She volunteers with her peers and mentors younger students.

"She looks first to help other people. She mentors a young girl in the elementary school in South Boston who lost a brother to violence," Headmaster Jerry Howland said.

Sturdivant said transferring to Another Course to College was her mother's idea.

"I do want to excel; I want to be challenged," Sturdivant said.

If you know a special student who truly makes a difference in his or her classroom, please e-mail us your nomination. Please include your phone number.