Marisa Taylor

Heading into her senior year at Norwood High School, Taylor was confident she was on the right path. For the past three years, she had excelled in the classroom, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The three-sport athlete and student leader was minding her mother's words, drummed into her over the years. Work hard in high school so good colleges will come knocking.

``She told me, `This is where it counts,' " Taylor said.

But last fall, Taylor's carefully laid plans were waylaid. Her 12-year-old sister, Kelsey, suffered a range of health complications stemming from sickle cell anemia, and Taylor was suddenly responsible for helping her mother, a single working parent, to care for her.

The frequent trips to the hospital for blood transfusions, the fear that a minor sickness could lead to serious problems, the constant stress and worry, all took a toll. She tried to juggle family and school demands, which included college applications and three Advanced Placement classes, but something had to give. Her grades plummeted from nearly all A's to some C's. She worried colleges would lose interest, but she felt guilty whenever she put school before family.

``It was a hard time," she recalled. ``I was worried about my grades, but I was worried about my sister, too. A lot of times, I just couldn't concentrate or stay awake."

Reluctantly, she told her teachers and guidance counselors about the situation. They decided honesty was the best solution, so she wrote about her troubled fall in her college application essay.

``Writing it down was hard," she said. ``I'm not the kind of person who makes excuses."

As Kelsey's health improved, so did Taylor's grades and spirits. The person who was elected to represent students on the School Committee, who worked on a youth violence prevention program, and who spent mornings helping to direct the school's morning news program, returned.

Her principal, George Usevich , said her resilience and dedication to her family were inspiring.

Still, she had pretty much given up on attending her dream school, Fairfield University in Connecticut, her choice since visiting on a picturesque spring day last April. But the acceptance letter came, and this fall the 18-year-old will enter the school's communications program in hopes of a career as a television producer or editor.

``It was a crazy year, but it turned out OK," she said.