Two Tales Of Defying The Odds - Marin IJ - June 13, 2006 - By Jennifer Gollan and Don Speich

Two tales of defying the odds
Marin IJ - June 13, 2006
by Jennifer Gollan and Don Speich

Derek Smith's ascent to an executive post is all the more remarkable given that many of his friends who attended the Sausalito Marin City schools with him in the 1970s are unemployed or jailed.

This year, Smith founded Marinship Development Interest Corp., a San Francisco-based real estate company named after a former Sausalito shipyard where his grandparents worked during World War II.

"I can't name one friend that has succeeded," said Smith, 39, of Oakland.

That's because many Marin City children lack role models, he said.

"Most of the kids in Marin City come from single-parent households, and they aren't always headed in the right direction in terms of having a respect for the educational system."

Growing up, Smith befriended children of disparate socio-economic backgrounds, whether it was through Little League or local public and private schools. After Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, Smith attended the Branson School for two years, before graduating from Redwood High School.

He said that besides his father, a trucker, his friends' parents embodied a model to strive for.

"College was nothing that my parents had ever done," Smith said. "But growing up with my friends from Sausalito, it was something that I had to do. Most of my role models were the parents of my friends in Sausalito."

One parent in particular, Peter Stocker, who founded Pacific Union Real Estate Co., was most influential in inspiring Smith to plot his future.

Smith attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with a mechanical engineering degree, and then Stanford University, where he earned a master's in civil engineering.

Socio-economic challenges aside, Smith believes he is proof that Sausalito Marin City schools can work.

"If you wanted to work hard and get educated it was do-able then, and I am sure it is do-able now," he said. "It is a two-way street. You have to want to be prepared to continue on."

La Donna Bonner, 34, of Marin City, agrees.

She attended middle school in Sausalito Marin City before graduating from Tamalpais High School. She earned a degree in humanities from Dominican University. Now a candidate for a master's in education degree at Dominican, Bonner's thesis this year will examine ways to improve parent participation in the Sausalito Marin City School District.

Simultaneously, Bonner is earning two credentials, one to become a teacher, the other, a resource specialist, allowing her to work with special education students. She says she would like to give back to her community by becoming a teacher in the Sausalito Marin City School District, where one of her three children attends the Willow Creek charter school. The others attend private schools in San Francisco.

She is already on her way to supporting her hometown, where her single mother raised Bonner and her 13 siblings. Bonner is the project coordinator for Marin City School Readiness, a First Five Marin program that encourages Marin City and Sausalito parents to participate in their children's early education.

"It is important because it has been proven over and over that parent involvement increases students' achievement, socially, emotionally, physically," she said. "Students in our community need to achieve academically so they can get out of the situations that they are in."

And Bonner wants to help.

"I want to give back to the community that has given so much to me, and helped support me to get to where I am," Bonner said.

Bonner attributes her success to her mother, who she said encouraged her to use school as a launching pad.

"We didn't always have a three-course meal to eat, but my mom knew what was important. ... She emphasized doing well in school because that will be your key to getting out of poverty."

Now it is Bonner who is encouraging her three children - Jessica Times, 15, a freshman at St. Ignatius School in San Francisco; Jazmine Times, 14, a seventh-grader at The Sterne School in San Francisco; and Stephen Bonner, 11, a fifth-grader at Willow Creek - to do their best in school.

"The same thing that my mom taught me, I tell my kids to do the best that you can do," Bonner said. "As long as you put forth the effort, then I am OK with that. I don't pressure them to be scholars, just to do their best. That makes mommy proud."

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com

Photo
SUCCESS: La Donna Bonner (center) shares a lighthearted moment with her children Stephen (left), Jazmine and Jessica (right) in their Marin City home. Bonner, 34, grew up as one of 14 children in Marin CIty, attended Sausalito Marin City schools and is now earning her teaching credential and a master's degree in education from Dominican University. She wants to be a teacher in the Sausalito Marin City School District to give back to the community. ( IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)

Derek Smith, 39, this year founded Marinship Development Interest Corp., a San Francisco-based real estate company. His grandparents worked at the Sausalito shipyard in World War II. (IJ photo/Jeff Vendsel)