Student credits "school mom and school dad" for changing her life

CBS Mornings College student reflects on mental health struggles and how her "school mom and school dad" changed her life .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-cbs-mornings.jpg'); } By David Begnaud, David Begnaud CBS News Contributor David Begnaud is a CBS News contributor and previously served as the lead national correspondent for "CBS Mornings," based in New York City. Read Full Bio David Begnaud, Grace Baek Updated on: April 13, 2026 / 12:29 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google A college student at UCLA credits two of her former educators for changing the course of her life.When Caitlynn Hauw was in high school in San Diego she said she struggled with her mental health. Her mother, Vanessa Dang, was a single parent raising four kids and fighting breast cancer – so while Hauw worried about her mom, she kept her own struggles mostly to herself until she said she couldn't anymore."It got so bad to the point where I attempted suicide in my sophomore year of high school," Hauw said. "I thought that everybody would just be better off without me in the world."But Westview High School counselor Vanessa Ho and journalism teacher Jeff Wenger stepped in to help at the time Hauw needed it most.Wenger recalled Hauw would be absent from school for "a few days or stretches at a time.""When she was here, she was so locked in … and all in, and she was curious and engaged and interested in learning," he said.At some point Ho said Hauw "fell off" and she "didn't hear from her anymore," which is when she started reaching out. Hauw's mother emailed Ho and told her that her daughter was in the hospital following her December 2020 suicide attempt."I think in those moments where you're giving up on yourself and you feel like all hope is lost, they show you there's humanity in the world and it gives you hope to just have a future," Hauw said about how the two educators helped her.Hauw admitted she wasn't going to apply to coll...