San Francisco: A woman with a difficult past has made it her mission at a Treasure Island charter school to keep troubled teens from going down the same path.

Without hesitation, Nathan Pittman flows freely among classmates in a theater class he once never would have joined.

"It's about being open, being your true self, being comfortable with being your true self," said Pittman.

It's a very different side of the 18-year-old, who not long ago, was quickly spiraling down a dark path.

"Some of the fights I ended up hurting the kids real bad, and I was arrested for it," said Pittman.

But persistent pleas to change course, and a timely introduction to Teri Delane, the founder of Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island became a turning point.

"I knew he had some challenges from his past, but he has this leadership warmth," said Delane.

"The truth hits you hard when somebody notices your path and where you're going before you're there," said Pittman.

The ongoing impacts of COVID in a city trying to address the fentanyl crisis, homelessness, and student absenteeism in San Francisco public schools can be demoralizing.

Delane and her charter school is trying to make a difference and continues to pave the way for other like-minded schools to follow suit. She knows what it's like living on the streets and where that often leads.

"I was running away at 13. At 14 I had a needle in my arm. From 14 to 20 I was a heroin addict," said Delane.

She turned her life around through recovery at the Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco. Her focus now centers around at-risk high school students.

"Basically, what you will find in their background is a youth life, full of trauma violence, running away, etc.," said Delane.

The on-campus dorm is home to those in dire need of a safe, supervised space.

She initiated the years-long endeavor after a student died off-campus of a burst appendix, with no medical attention and no parents in her life, like many students at the school.

"They can have this beautiful environment, live with a bunch of other kids who all get along. They cook together and they eat together. We have created a family environment," said Delane.

Its culinary class brings some 60 students together for daily meals, as they take turns in the kitchen.

"Through that pressure comes out a diamond. You put pressure, and at the end of it after two hours, it's beautiful, a beautiful meal," said Life Learning Academy culinary arts instructor Derrek Brown.

The public charter school under San Francisco Unified School District has also added three new apartments to its transitional housing program for graduates.

"It's really important to me not to just give all these kids everything. We will give you anything you need, but you're going to earn it. And when you earn, it you're going to feel proud of yourself and that's what will make you want to keep it," said Delane.

Instead of paying rent, graduates are required to deposit a third of their paycheck into a savings account. That's what Pittman will soon do later this year.

"I've had a hard upbringing, but I'm glad I've turned it around," said Pittman.

But it's not just a dorm or an apartment that has changed his path.

"Love. That's what I felt when I got here. Love," said Pittman.

It's a word everyone knows but so many are searching to experience and change the course of their lives.

Delane said it has added a phone service for alumni so that graduates who need help can call whether it's for a drug program needed or counseling.

She said enrollment is capped at 60, but she is hoping other organizations will adopt a similar model to address the needs of hundreds, if not thousands, of "at risk students".