For many the answer is obvious: bright, involved parents, lots of opportunity and, of course, a student's own drive for success.

But in this season of graduations, it's worth remembering there are some kids in North Carolina who exhibit that drive in the face of relentless adversity.

Here is one student's tale.

Katherine Derrick, of Henderson and now Raleigh, didn't have much of a childhood.

While Derrick was still in diapers, her father passed away, and her mother began a torturous battle with rheumatoid arthritis.

By the time Derrick was in the sixth grade, her mother was too crippled and in too much pain to work outside the home.

At 14, when her mother suffered her first heart attack, Derrick took over as primary caregiver in the home. She shopped, she cooked, she cleaned, she did laundry. More important, she made sure her mother was taking her medications and getting to her frequent doctors' appointments.

By the time Derrick was a junior in high school, she was also holding down two jobs: one at the Sonic drive-in, the other interning with a dentist in Henderson. She dreams of being a dentist herself one day.

Remarkably, with all this going on, she had a 4.625 cumulative GPA. She had all the plates spinning, just so.

But some things are out of a young woman's control. Late in 2006, her mother's condition worsened. She spent as much time at Duke Hospital as she did at home in Henderson.

On July 9, 2007, Karen Derrick died at the age of 47.

Six months shy of 18, Katherine Derrick was on her own.

Following her mother's death, Derrick moved to Raleigh to live with her aunt and uncle, Kathy and Jeff Harper.

But she wanted to finish her senior year at Northern Vance High School, so she drove 45 minutes each way to attend.

She was receiving a monthly Social Security check, but it was eaten up by a car payment, insurance, gas, cell phone, clothes and incidentals.

It wasn't an easy year. She still did well, easily landing in the top 10 percent of her graduating class, but she was mourning the loss of a mother -- and a childhood she never really got to experience.

She was accepted at UNC-Wilmington. She plans to major in biology -- with hopes of attending dental school one day.

But first she has to pay for an undergraduate education.

UNCW, apparently eyeing Derrick's Social Security payments, determined that she is eligible for a $2,500 grant and loans totaling $7,500.

But that's a lot of debt, and that leaves $5,521 unpaid. And Derrick honestly doesn't know where that money will come from. She has no savings. She has no assets. She has no guardian.

Starting June 1, she no longer receives those monthly Social Security payments.

Her Aunt Kathy has asked UNCW to reconsider her niece's economic situation. The office is doing that.

Her "Aunt Sassy," Sylvia Van Dyke, a longtime friend of Derrick's mother, still can't believe Katherine triumphed over so much only to come up short at college's doorstep.

"Life does not seem to be fair," Van Dyke wrote.

Truly, for some graduates, it does not.