IWA'S 2019 Valedictorian made city-wide news with a special feature on KHOU 11 last week. Michela Durrette shared her journey from facing brain cancer in 6th grade to graduating at the top of her high school class. She shared, "Cancer doesn’t stop me. When I was diagnosed with cancer, all my doctors said that I probably wouldn’t make good grades anymore, I shouldn’t expect to. They just wanted to prepare me for the fact that that might happen. Rather than using that as an excuse to give up I used it as motivation to work harder.” Michela will study mechanical engineering at the University of Houston Honors College, and has dreams to work at NASA. A true Woman of the Word, Michela also believes in the power of prayer: "I wholeheartedly believe that prayers work. Everybody has been there for me since the day of my diagnosis. All of my friends and families came around me and prayed for me, and that has made all the difference in my life.”

Watch the KHOU segment here.