Highlands student overcomes tragedy to graduate 1 year early

What Kaliah Pratt wanted to do was going to be difficult. Life, or rather, death, made it even harder.

Pratt, 16, of Harrison decided she was ready to finish high school, and she embarked on a plan to graduate this year, a year early.

“I always had a hard time having fun with the people around me,” she said. “I never really fit in. I had a different perspective. I need to be around more open-minded people who think differently. I was ready for something new and more challenging.”

Her plan was just beginning when tragedy struck. Her boyfriend, Eli Bussotti, 17, a senior, died after a car crash in October.

“That slowed everything down for me,” she said. “It took my focus and everything.”

She planned to take her junior year courses at Highlands High School while completing her senior requirements at home online through the district’s cyber charter school.

She went to school each day like everyone else. Then she’d go home to a cyber school session.

“If somebody else wants to do this, they have to be willing to give up their social life, and they have to really want to do it,” she said. “They have to really be passionate about getting somewhere else. I was very passionate about meeting new people and moving on to the next step so I can learn what I need to learn to be my own boss and educate myself.”

After Bussotti’s death, she thought about quitting, her mother said.

“Going to school was so difficult,” said April Sharp, Pratt’s mother. “She left school early a few times. It was hard for her to be in the school and remember him. She did not want to be there another year.”

Pratt somehow managed to stick to her plan. She can’t explain how.

“I had a lot of support from people telling me I need to still have goals and don’t slip into a depression and lose your goals and who you want to be, she said. “That motivated me. They told me he would want me to do good.”

School counselor Marilyn Skwortz was there for Pratt through both her education and her grief.

“That is when we saw each other daily for a long time,” Skwortz said. “What amazed me was her ability to regroup herself. The perseverance she displayed was a beautiful thing to watch. She pulled herself back together and kept her eye on the prize.”

Skwortz said Pratt, who she has known since Pratt was a freshman, is the only student she’s seen graduate a year early in her 12 years at Highlands.

“We’ve had a lot of deep and meaningful conversations about life, love and loss,” Skwortz said. “She has deep understanding, empathy and compassion.”

“I’m going to miss her dearly,” Skwortz said. “She’s changed my life more than I changed hers.”

Pratt was ahead on elective courses and only needed 4.5 credits to fulfill the district’s graduation requirements. Still, Skwortz said her first thought was that what Pratt was proposing to do would be difficult.

“I looked at her transcript and grades. She’s a very good student,” she said. “I didn’t have a doubt in my mind she was going to do it. Kaliah is very organized.”

Pratt’s principals and her mother believed she could do it if given a chance, Skwortz said.

“She is a very bright young girl and really ambitious,” Sharp said. “I didn’t know it was something that could be done. She did all this on her own.”

The loss of Bussotti from her daughter’s life amplified her concerns.

“I thought it would be a lot of work, especially with what she’s been through. She was grieving and going through the loss,” she said. “I’m proud of her for that. She stuck with it and got through it. I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

Sharp said her daughter assured them she wanted to continue with her plan.

“It might have helped her through her grief by giving her something to focus on and keep her busy,” she said. “She convinced me that was something that she wanted to do. We talked about the responsibility that went into that.

“I supported her in it,” she said. “At first, I was hesitant. She was adamant about it. I said, ‘You can give it a shot.’”

After graduation, Pratt said she plans to attend the Community College of Allegheny County for two years and then transfer to an out-of-state university. She wants to study social media marketing and business management.

“I aspire to be an entrepreneur, maybe even a motivational speaker one day,” she said. “I want to be my own boss — that’s why I graduated early. I was ready to take the next step.

“I want to create a new path,” she said. “I like to educate myself, too. I don’t think that school gives you all the knowledge that you need to know. I’m passionate about educating myself. I’m more likely to learn that way. I don’t like being told what to do.”

Skwortz said she feels fortunate to have worked with her.

“I think Kaliah is destined for great things,” she said. “I am 100% certain she’s going to touch a lot of lives in a positive way.”

Highlands’ graduation is June 7.

Pratt hopes her story will inspire others.

“Just go after your dreams, seriously,” she said. “We only have one life. Do that thing. What do you have to lose?”