Marlene Salazar called the principal of KIPP Academy Middle School every single week during the summer of 2002, asking if a spot had opened up for her in the fifth grade class.

“I had to apply through the lottery, and I did not get chosen. Summer school began and I still didn’t have a spot in KIPP, so I kept calling my principal to see if there were any available spots,” she said. “At the time, I thought it was not a big deal for a 10-year-old to call a principal to get into a school.”

Her tenacity paid off: a student who had been selected through the lottery didn’t enroll, and Salazar became a fifth grader at KIPP Academy Middle School in the Bronx that fall.

This was not just the beginning of middle school for Salazar. She says KIPP prepared her to get into a competitive high school, helped her navigate the college admissions process to become the first college student in her family, and helped her find a job she loves.

Salazar was a student at KIPP through the eighth grade, when she graduated and moved to St. Jean Baptiste school in Manhattan for high school. Even after she left, Salazar stayed in close touch with KIPP.

When it was time to start thinking about college, Salazar needed advice; her parents hadn’t attended college and there was only one college counselor for her high school class of 70 students.

She turned to KIPP. Her seventh- and eighth-grade history teacher, Mitch Brenner, and people from the KIPP Through College (KTC) program coached her through the process. They helped her search for a college that would be a good fit, prepare for admissions interviews and navigate financial aid applications.

She remembers Brenner sitting down with her to talk through her goals and options.

“When I went to interview at Fordham University, I was missing some of my financial aid papers, but KTC had them, and one of their staff came to the interview with me and helped me fill out the forms,” Salazar remembered. “Their support was such a big help.”

As an undergraduate at Fordham, Salazar continued to stay connected with KIPP. She worked with the KIPP Through College staff to find internships and turned to Brenner for help with her required history courses. In her final two years at Fordham, Salazar interned in the KIPP Foundation’s marketing department. After graduation, she was hired as a teacher recruitment specialist for KIPP New York City middle schools. Today, she works with some of her former teachers and thinks of them as colleagues, friends and even family.

“That sense of family at KIPP is important: people actually do care for you,” Salazar said. “It doesn’t just end in the classroom. It goes above and beyond that.”

Besides joining the staff, Salazar made KIPP into a family tradition. Her sister went to KIPP Academy Middle and KIPP Academy NYC College Prep, and two cousins are currently students in the sixth and seventh grades at KIPP Washington Heights Middle School.

Next on Salazar’s trajectory? She says she’d like to work with her former KIPP classmates to open a new KIPP school someday to keep inspiring generations of students and making the world a better place.

The self-proclaimed “KIPPster for Life,” says, “As a fifth grader, I learned that you should always want to help others and take the initiative to help better yourself or help better others.”