"Lincoln was just a bad high school and students came here to pass the time," Molinar, a senior at Lincoln, said.
Then, Antonio Esquibel stepped in as principal. A Lincoln grad himself, he wanted to change the culture at this school.
"Lack of school discipline, low expectations were really running rampant at this school," Esquibel said.
He established a culture of strict rules and high expectations.
"When they're starting to enter high school, they're not sure how to act or really what the expectations are," Esquibel said. "But, students want to have that tough love, I mean, they really do."
Esquibel did such an effective job at Lincoln, he was promoted to the position of a district administrator and Friday, Superintendent Tom Boasberg picked Lincoln to celebrate the gains in graduation rates district wide.
"Every one of our students will wear that cap, will wear that gown proudly across the graduation stage," Boasberg said outlining the ideals for Denver Public Schools.
The reality is the graduation rate at DPS increased by 4.3 percent to 56.1 percent total. Coupled with a 5.4 percent gain the year before, the graduation rate in Denver is up nearly 10 percent over the past 10 years - the highest rate of gain in Colorado amongst large districts.
"It is a combination of a tremendous amount of hard work from our teachers, from our school leaders, obviously from our kids," Boasberg said. "A conviction that every one of our students can and will succeed and we need to make changes."
Lincoln's graduation rate jumped 12 percent from last year.
"Twelve percentage points is outrageous," Esquibel said.
Molinar believes it's just the beginning.
"I think that's such a big jump and I think that that could get better," Molinar said.
At 56.1 percent, Boasberg knows the entire district can get better. Other schools such as Denver School of the Arts, Martin Luther King Jr. Early College, and Denver Center for International Studies had graduation rates at 90 percent or higher.
Molinar says students are taught to believe they can accomplish anything despite the challenges. She did.
"I am also a teen parent and I think that there are a lot of teen parents out there who think that they're not able to do the things that other high school students do," Molinar said.
She says, for herself and for the sake of her son, she wanted to prove to others she can graduate on time. Molinar wants to be a doctor.
"Usually, Hispanic, teen parents do really [graduate] and I really push myself to not let statistics speak for me. But, I could speak for myself," Molinar said.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)