This study explored educational persistence in the narratives of students re-engaging in secondary school, specifically relating to the messages they received from their families motivating them to succeed in school. Framed in Yosso's (2005) theory of community cultural wealth, students described the methods their families used to support them that largely diverged from traditional methods of academic family involvement. In the midst of educational reform discourse that takes a deficit view of students and families who do not follow institutionally recognized norms of family involvement, this study seeks to challenge the notion that families who use non-traditional forms of support do not care about their children's education. In fact, student narratives show that the community cultural wealth they received from interactions with their families was integral in motivating them to persist through obstacles in school.