A Texas girl born in prison is set to attend Harvard in the fall after graduating third in her class – a ‘voracious reader’ lived with a single father while her mother was behind bars
- Sky Castner, 18, of Montgomery County, was born in the Galveston County Jail because her mother was incarcerated at the time of her birth.
- Despite his rocky start, Castner would graduate third in his class from Conroe High School and go to Harvard in the fall to study law.
- The young teenager attributes her success to her mentor Mona Hamby. Castner and Hamby met when the graduate was in elementary school
A Texas girl, born in prison, will attend Harvard after graduating third in her class.
Sky Castner, 18, of Montgomery County, was born in the Galveston County Jail because her mother was incarcerated at the time of her birth. Her father picked her up from the county jail and raised her as a single father.
“I was born in prison,” reads the first line of her Harvard application letter, which she wrote with a Boston University professor.
“He helped me tell my story in the best possible way,” she told the Houston Chronicle.
Despite his rocky start, Castner would graduate third in his class from Conroe High School — north of Houston — and go to Harvard in the fall to study law.
Sky Castner, 18, of Montgomery County, was born in the Galveston County Jail because her mother was incarcerated at the time of her birth. Her father picked her up from the county jail and raised her as a single father.
Despite his rocky start, Castner will graduate third in his class at Conroe High School – north of Houston
The young teenager attributes her success to her mentor Mona Hamby. Castner and Hamby met when the graduate was in elementary school at Reaves Elementary School
The young teenager attributes her success to her mentor Mona Hamby, who has no connection to the school. Castner and Hamby met when the graduate was in elementary school at Reaves Elementary School.
The young girl was a voracious reader and staff thought she would benefit from CISD’s Project Mentor program, where children in need of a little love are matched with an adult to help care for them and to frame them.
“I was given a paper about him. Her hero was Rosa Parks, her favorite food was Dairy Queen tacos, and she loved to read. I thought that sounded like a bright little girl,’ Hamby told the Houston Chronicle. “I still have this paper today.
“She said to me, ‘I’ve been in jail. I said, “No, that can’t be true,” the mentor continued. “I knew I couldn’t just go to lunch with this kid once a week, she needed more.”
Castner appears several times on Hamby’s Facebook page and the mentor has often spoken of the teenager and her pride.
Hamby was there the first time Castner got glasses and needed a haircut, and even took her around the Harvard campus.
The young girl was a voracious reader and staff believed she would benefit from ICAD’s Project Mentor program, where children in need of a little love are matched with an adult to help care for them and to frame them.
“I was born in prison,” reads the first line of her Harvard application letter.
“After that trip, I saw his love for school intensify,” she told the Chronicle.
Other members of the community have helped her through things like summer camp.
“It was a very different environment than I grew up in and that’s not a bad thing,” the 2023 graduate told the Chronicle. “Everything Mona taught me was very precious in the same way that everything I experienced before Mona was very precious.”
Castner worked hard to get all A’s and enrolled in the Academy of Health Professions and Sciences at Conroe High School to prepare for eventually going to the prestigious college.
Castner graduated from Conroe High School on Thursday.
