My name is Kayla Perez and I am attending YouthBuild Lawrence. I want to share my story.
Growing up was difficult and I wish I were a kid again as growing up I wanted to be all types of things.
As I started to get older, I began to hang out with the wrong crowd. I started smoking weed and drinking in school and thought it was cool. I unsuccessfully went from one school to another and did not get anything done as I thought school was a joke and didn’t take life seriously. I began to give up on life and did not take advantage of opportunities I had.
I could have been somebody and chose to be a nobody. I was so young and didn’t make the best choices. As I got older, the mistakes I made, I began to learn from them. One day I just woke up and said to myself I need to do right. I need to get off my butt and be somebody positive.
All I want to do one day is look in the mirror and say “I finally made it!” Through the years I started losing friends as I needed to make better choices about the people I had in my life that would support me. I wanted to make my mother proud. I wanted to help her have a good life. This was my goal in life, to have a better life.
I decided to apply to YouthBuild Lawrence because I heard many YouthBuild graduates speak of how positive the program is and how successful they were because of attending YouthBuild. They told me to go to YouthBuild and that I would like it. I finally applied this year and made it through Mental Toughness and was selected as one of 34 students. I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I want to pass my HiSet test. I want to get my driver’s license. I want to learn job skills and have a career. I want to be a leader and a role model. I want to be independent and go to college. I am going to get this done and nothing is going to stop me!
Growing up was difficult and I wish I were a kid again as growing up I wanted to be all types of things.
As I started to get older, I began to hang out with the wrong crowd. I started smoking weed and drinking in school and thought it was cool. I unsuccessfully went from one school to another and did not get anything done as I thought school was a joke and didn’t take life seriously. I began to give up on life and did not take advantage of opportunities I had.
I could have been somebody and chose to be a nobody. I was so young and didn’t make the best choices. As I got older, the mistakes I made, I began to learn from them. One day I just woke up and said to myself I need to do right. I need to get off my butt and be somebody positive.
All I want to do one day is look in the mirror and say “I finally made it!” Through the years I started losing friends as I needed to make better choices about the people I had in my life that would support me. I wanted to make my mother proud. I wanted to help her have a good life. This was my goal in life, to have a better life.
I decided to apply to YouthBuild Lawrence because I heard many YouthBuild graduates speak of how positive the program is and how successful they were because of attending YouthBuild. They told me to go to YouthBuild and that I would like it. I finally applied this year and made it through Mental Toughness and was selected as one of 34 students. I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I want to pass my HiSet test. I want to get my driver’s license. I want to learn job skills and have a career. I want to be a leader and a role model. I want to be independent and go to college. I am going to get this done and nothing is going to stop me!
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