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Sabrina Thompson's presence among the graduates at Stony Brook University's commencement ceremony today surely will represent the culmination of her own hard work.
Just as surely, she cites support - and high expectations - from family and from mentoring teachers from the Roose- velt school district, known more for financial woes and negative headlines than the academic prowess of its students.
Although Thompson said the district "didn't have the resources like the other schools on Long Island, I learned a lot. My teachers would do everything they could to get me harder work just to prepare me and help me."
Thompson, 22, said her parents and grandmother instilled in her an "I-can-do-anything attitude."
The 2003 co-valedictorian at Roosevelt, Thompson majored in mechanical engineering at Stony Brook, earning a 3.46 grade point average, according to a university spokeswoman....