Jeremy Charo

Jeremy Charo, 17, a senior at John Jay High School, balances pursuing his dreams as a photographer with being a dad and student by listening to the band Muse.

"Falling away with you," Charo's favorite song from the band, blasts screaming lyrics, a contrast to Charo's low-key demeanor.

Charo hasn't liked too much attention since the seventh grade, when he began abusing drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs. He stayed quiet so no one would notice.

A Spanish teacher he admired caught him high and looked at him in a way that changed his life forever.

"Her thoughts held a huge weight on me," Charo said.

He quit drugs, focusing his energy on photography after his journalism adviser, Fernando Serna, noticed his skills and promoted him to lead photographer.

He and girlfriend, Raven Valdez, 17, hope their son, 3-month-old Jeremiah Caleb Charo, will have high goals someday.

"We knew it was gonna be hard, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. So we were like, ‘All right, let's do this,'" Charo said.

Looking into the future, he said anymore, his life "doesn't look blurry."