Boy in two hoods

This story is not the one we imagined at first. We planned to follow a child on scholarship from a low-income neighborhood to an exclusive prep school. We thought we would be chronicling a difficult journey, one in which the young person confronted isolation and prejudice. The boy we picked did face many challenges - and we were one of them. Having a photographer and reporter trail him into his new life was harder than he expected, and he didn't always give us the access we had hoped for. But as the reporting unfolded, we found a different story. In the end, we felt privileged to witness something wonderful - perhaps even more so for being unexpected.

The South Bronx apartment where Emmanuel Saldana lives (when he's not at school) is a two-and-a-half hour drive from the leafy green and stately calm of the Deerfield Academy campus.

Measured in cultural terms, however, the distance is best expressed in light years.

Emmanuel's neighborhood is a place where, at nightfall, residents feel most comfortable behind locked doors. Yankee Stadium is close by, and so is crime and hardship. The Saldana apartment stands in the shadow of one of the worst and most dangerous public high schools in the United States - a school Emmanuel could be attending if his parents had gone the easy route. But they never did.

That's why, on this crisp and clear September morning, Emmanuel's belongings and immediate family are neatly stowed in a rented minivan steadily heading north.

Emmanuel is about to begin his freshman year at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass. He has received a full scholarship - $35,000 annually for four years - basically a free ticket to one of the nation's best preparatory schools.

There he'll be working and playing with students from some of the wealthiest US families. He'll also be one of a small number of dark-skinned students on campus. "It's not an easy road," says his mom, Socorro Vallejo. "He'll be representing all of us as a nationality. He'll be opening the eyes of people not used to integration. He'll be teaching them."

But in some ways it is a job Emmanuel has been preparing for throughout his young life.

Ms. Vallejo and her husband, Miguel Saldana, always wanted something better. She was born into a Puerto Rican family in a low-income New York neighborhood. She dreamed of college but pregnancy at age 15 dashed that hope. Mr. Saldana, who is half black, half Puerto Rican, came from the same kind of mean streets as his future wife. His adult habits were formed during three tours of combat duty in Vietnam.

Hardworking and ambitious, the two met later in life and soon recognized they had similar ideas about raising children.

Their sons, Pierre and Emmanuel, were bright boys from the start. Vallejo's plan to foster their safety and success was simple: "I worked hard to keep them busy and to keep them close." Trips to the movies, parks, and museums were always made as a family.

The boys had karate and swimming lessons and attended parochial school; they had no time for idly hanging out on the streets. Both were strong students, but Emmanuel, three years younger and hungry for a challenge, poured out an extra measure of effort. Soon, he complained, school was too easy.

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