Partially deaf from a bout with meningitis as a toddler, Claudia Meza was only 12 years old when she became involved in the dangerous thug life in her Las Vegas neighborhood. Fearing that Meza might not live past her teen years, her mother sent the then 14-year old to live with her grandparents in Tucson. Meza believes the move saved her life. She abandoned the gangster attitude, baggy jeans, and men's shirts and took up modeling lessons at her grandmother's urging.

On a whim, the 5-foot-9 ½ inch Mexican American also joined the girls' tennis team at Desert View High School and found a reason to care about herself. "Tennis made me more aware of what the world is really like," Meza says. "That you can make something of yourself. That's it's not just about gangs and surviving the streets."

Despite her raw skills - she had never had a tennis lesson - and her hearing impairment, Meza rose quickly in the sport. She earned a partial tennis scholarship to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, where, at the end of her second season, she ranked 17th in the West regional standings for Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). She is now a junior at the Division I Stetson University in Florida. Stetson's head tennis coach, Venezuelan Maria Zavala, says of Meza, "When someone has gone through as much as she has, you want her on your team."

"I'm proud to be the person I've become. I'm proud to show my people that it can be done," says 20-year-old Meza, who returns often to her high school alma mater to teach young women to play tennis. "A little gangster girl can make her dreams come true."

CLAUDIA'S WORK ETHIC: Strive for something positive, and thank God when you achieve it.

By Marissa Silvera

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