5 O.C. Graduates Earn the Gift of College : Education: Their hard work and modest means lead to scholarships at a Pennsylvania school.

Hidden in the throng of seniors graduating today in the Santa Ana Unified School District, many of them immigrants from dozens of nations, is a story quintessentially American.

It’s a story about success embraced through hard work, and about tangling with cultural differences. It’s about accomplished people going out of their way to help those struggling. And it’s about growing up, with the pain that can come with independence.

Among the 1,800 Santa Ana teen-agers who will move tassels from one side of their mortarboards to the other today, signifying completion of high school, are five whose futures are linked in this success story.

Thanks to a rare combination of hard work, charity and optimism, these students--two Latinos and three Vietnamese, from homes with modest incomes--will attend Allegheny College in Pennsylvania in the fall on hefty scholarships.

The teen-agers’ future at this small, ivy-covered liberal arts school was clinched by unusual, cooperative efforts by a local judge, a high school counselor and a college president, all of whom used their positions of influence to make it happen.

“These kids are going to become the leaders of their communities in the next 50 years,” said Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel, who has been friend and mentor to the five. “There just has to be the acquiring of all the good things America can provide. After all the things we keep hearing about inner-city kids, it’s important to know those stereotypes aren’t always true. These are terrific kids.”

Three of the teens heading to Allegheny in the fall are from Santa Ana High School: Phong Tran, 17, who wants to be a doctor; Chau Dao, 17, a straight-A student and class valedictorian; and Victor Sanchez, 18, who hopes for an engineering career. The other two are from Saddleback High: Kim Phan, 18, an accomplished violinist who hopes to win a seat in Congress someday, and Adam Ruiz, 18, a would-be archeologist.

Their road to Allegheny College began with high school counselor Lucy Ginorio, who knows its president, Daniel Sullivan, and whose daughter attends the school. She talked up the college to promising students. Mandel, an Allegheny alumnus and now a college trustee, persuaded Sullivan to come and meet the students and turned his living room into a friendly meeting place.

Mandel was already well-known to the students. Two or three nights a week, he tutors teen-agers in English or other subjects. He also spearheaded the district’s stay-in-school program, which brings professionals into classrooms to share their success stories.

Still, they were moved by the willingness of this judge to help them make college connections. He is even paying for plane fare or winter clothes for a couple of the harder-pressed students.

“It changed my view of government,” said Victor Sanchez. “Usually, it’s full of corrupt politicians. But I guess there’s a few good men out there.”

And all were surprised and touched that Sullivan flew to California to see them and treated them with warmth and respect.

“It really clinched my decision to go there,” said Adam Ruiz. “He made me feel like (the college) was a real family kind of thing.”

Though some arrangements are not yet final, most of the students are getting four-year scholarships averaging about $11,000, with another $8,000 or so coming from government grants, loans and work programs. That package covers most of Allegheny’s $21,000-a-year fees for room, board and tuition.

A school of 1,800 students near Lake Erie that counts attorney Clarence Darrow and President William McKinley among its alumni, mostly white Allegheny will prove to be a change for the Santa Ana students, who are accustomed to warm weather and a student population that is more than 80% ethnic minorities. But they will have each other as a support network.

Already, they have shared similar struggles just to win the freedom to attend the school. On a recent afternoon, they told tales of parents who were angry, insulted or worried that their children would choose to violate their cultural norms and go so far from the protective circle of their families.

“The first time I told them, my dad was just silent,” said Phong Tran, whose family came from Vietnam when he was 4 years old. “My mom just said straight out, ‘It’s too far. It’s too cold. You might get sick.’ ”

Kim Phan, whose family also immigrated from Vietnam when she was 4, said her mother punished her with cold silence or outbursts of yelling for months after she expressed the desire to go to Allegheny. Her parents wanted her to attend college close to home.

“My mother would cry every day, saying, ‘What am I going to do without you?’ Or she wouldn’t talk to me. I felt like a left out stepchild.”

Chau Dao, who came to the United States from Vietnam when she was 6 years old, said her parents put tremendous pressure on her to remain at home, in part so she could continue to serve as their interpreter. By disobeying her parents’ wishes, Chau said, she departed sharply from cultural expectations and hurt their feelings.

Victor Sanchez, who immigrated from Mexico when he was in the eighth grade, said his father, a carpenter, worried that without relatives nearby, Victor would have to struggle unnecessarily to learn to cook, do his own laundry and get along with roommates.

“My dad said, ‘It’s really hard making it on your own without family around. How are you going to make it?’ ” Sanchez said. “Among the people they know, it’s not very often that a kid goes to college that far away from home.”

Sullivan, Allegheny’s president, said it is unusual for him to become so involved in selecting students, but his personal relationships with Ginorio and Mandel made all the difference; he knew he could rely on their judgment when they raved about their young prospects. He also said Mandel’s dedication to helping teen-agers inspired him.

“He’s really committed to helping students trying to struggle for their place in American society, students who have very strong abilities, who need both the challenge and the soft turf that a liberal arts college can provide,” Sullivan said.

By “soft turf,” Sullivan said he means that Allegheny can offer an easier adjustment than a large university for a student who comes from a long distance or from another culture, because its classes are very small and its staff prizes its very involved, hands-on relationship with students.

The Santa Ana students said they are a little anxious about undertaking a life so far from everything familiar. But they are expect to find comfortable niches for themselves.

“With all that individual attention, it makes you feel like a person and not a number,” Sanchez said.