Our Children and Families

Trina’s Story

January 20, 2021 | Leave a reply

The staff at Redfern Cornerstone Community Center have been my angels. That was true before COVID, and it is even more true now.

I’m a single mom who works as a home health aide. I have a 6-year-old son, Terrell, and a daughter at college.

Terrell first began going to Redfern for summer camp in 2019 when he was 5 years old. He had the time of his life. He would come home and tell me stories about all the people he met. It was just so welcoming and friendly. Before this, he was in the house all day, and being at Redfern really opened him up. They introduced him to arts and crafts, which he enjoys a lot.

When the summer ended, I was glad to learn that Redfern offered an afterschool program and signed him up right away. I was grateful for the homework help, and Terrell loved the field trips. His favorite was ice skating. I was so terrified to let him go, but he said, “I’m gonna be fine, don’t worry about it!” And he was. The staff sent me a video of him on the ice. He was so happy! The program really broadened Terrell’s horizons and gave him experiences he wouldn’t otherwise have had. They also helped him with behavioral issues, and I saw a real difference. Life had settled into a good routine, which is very helpful when you’re a single mom!

Then COVID hit. Everything went south and shut down. We muddled through the spring with my daughter home from college to watch Terrell, but I wasn’t sure what we were going to do for the summer. At least with virtual learning at school he was somewhat engaged. I worried that during the summer he’d have nothing.

I was so glad when I found out that Redfern would be doing summer camp. It was virtual, and I wasn’t sure how it would work, but it turned out great. My daughter was able to provide supervision, but with the programming through Redfern, she didn’t have to entertain him all day. He got to interact with his friends and the staff, whom he loves.

Terrell on his way to Redfern

Once school started back up again and my daughter had to go back to college, I didn’t know what to do — again — since school was going to be virtual. I seriously contemplated quitting my job because my son had to come first.

That’s when Redfern got the green light to open for the Learning Bridges program. This has helped me out a whole lot!

Learning Bridges is for students who need a safe space to conduct their virtual learning during school hours. Terrell attends virtual school while he’s at Redfern, and staff are there to make sure he stays on task and to answer any questions or help with any problems.

When the kids come in in the morning, they sign in, wash their hands, and log on to class. They take little breaks throughout the day, and staff make sure they log back on in time for their next class. And although there are a lot of kids there, they make it work. The staff gave noise-cancelling headphones to any students who didn’t have them, and they give them a private place to work when needed. Once Terrell’s teacher wanted to test his reading, and I asked the staff if he could have a quieter area for the testing. They said no problem.

Shantrice and Terrell at Redfern Rosing ceremony

Terrell with Ms. Shantrice at Redfern’s “rosing ceremony,” honoring students who completed their first full semester of remote learning at Redfern and the challenges that they overcame

When the school day ends, they transition right into the center’s afterschool program, where Terrell can get his homework done and participate in enrichment activities, which he can’t get enough of. At 5:30 when I pick him up, I ask him what he likes about the center, and he’ll say, “I like to make things with clay!” or “I like the new games.” He also talks about the staff and how he likes that [Group Leader] Ms. Shantrice colors with him. He also loves [Program Site Coordinator] Mr. Keith, [Program Coordinator] Ms. Rosmary, and [Program Director] Mr. Simeon, who is amazing and always makes sure Terrell is OK. They’re all great, and I think of them as a team. As a mom, it makes me so glad to know my son is well-cared for all day and happy.

It’s like one big family here. The staff really treat your child like their own. Everyone knows them and cares about them. Especially during the pandemic, I needed the help really bad, and this program saved me. That’s why I say they’re my angels. The best thing I ever could have done was sign Terrell up for Redfern.

La Historia de Angela (in Spanish and English)

February 10, 2020 | Leave a reply

Scroll down for English version.

Nota del editor: Operation Parenting es un grupo de padres para padres immigrates y otros cuidadores que tienen niños en terapia en una clínica de salud conductual del Child Center of NY. Los terapeutas que provienen de la misma cultura que sus clientes ofrecen las clases en el idioma natal de los clientes. Angela asistió al grupo de habla hispana en la Clínica Flushing.

Angela, graduada del programa Operation Parenting, junto al lider de dicho programa, Benito Green. (Angela, with Group Leader Benito Green, graduated from the Operation Parenting program.)

Yo soy Angela, tengo un hijo de 11 años de edad llamado Franklyn. Las clases de Operation Parenting me ayudaaron mucho a ser una mejor madre. Durante el tiempo que duraron las clases del programa Operation Parenting, discutimos muchas temas de sobre tecnicas de resolucion de situaciones problematicas en los miembros de nuestra familia sin tener que gritar o implentar otra medida inapropiada. Este programa me facilito varias estrategias e ideas sobre cómo manejar mejor a mi hijo y entender por qué actúa de la manera que lo hace.

Vine al grupo porque Franklyn, mi hijo, tenía mal temperamento y no respetaba ni a mí, ni a su padre. Frecuentemente, Franklyn no entendia cuando su padre y yo les decimos que no podiamos comprarle lo que el queria. El mostraba un alto nivel de impaciencia, pues sin entender razones, las cosas que el pedia, las queria de inmediato. También, a Franlkyn le asustaban las cosas y los lugares nuevos. Yo quería ayudarlo con esto estas situaciones porque siempre he querido ayudar a mi hijo para que este preparado para enfrentar los desafios del mundo por si mismo, asabiendas que yo no estare con el todo el tiempo para ayudarlo.

En el program Operation Parenting, todos los temas que discutimos todos los viernes ayudaron a todos los miembros de mi famila: a mí, a mi hijo, y tambien a mi esposo; aun cuando yo fui la inica que asistion a las clases. Una de las lecciones mas memorable para mi, fue aquella que tenia como enfoque de “No le drle a tu hijo todo lo que quiere. … Haz que lo merezca o que se lo gane.” En dicha clase discutimos cómo realizar dicha idea sabiendo qué hacer en el momento.

Todo lo aprendido en las clases, trato de llevarlo a la practictica en casa con el proposito de saber si las nuevas técnicas ayudaran de forma efectiva a los miemrosde mi familia. En cada técnica yo utilizo la misma idea básica de programa que es construir una relación con mi hijo, basada en la empatía y la comprensión, en lugar de exigir y cerrarme a las posibilidades de cambios.

Todavía tengo la autoridad, pero ahora tenemos una conversación en lugar de gritar. Como dice Benito Green, el facilitador de grupo: “Si introducimos un cambio, la dinámica de toda la familia cambiara”; como Franklyn está recibiendo terapia aquí, también está aprendiendo a cambiar. El cambio no ocurre de la noche a la mañana, pero esa la perceverancia es otra cosa que aprendí a través de este grupo: nunca te rindas y siempre encuentres la manera de propiciar un cambio o de resolver uno o mas problemas. Como dicen: “El amor siempre encontrará un camino,” y amo mucho a mis hijos.

En ocaciones pensamos que somos demasiado tercos, temerosos o fuertes para buscar ayuda. Ahora sé que el hecho de buscar ayuda me ha convirtido en una madre más fuerte. Ya no peleamos ni gritamos tanto desde que comencé a venir a las clases del Progama Operation Parenting. Los miembros de mi familia nos entendemos major y como familia, somos mas felices.

El grupo acaba de terminar, pero las niñas [las madres del grupo] intercambiamos números de teléfono para formar nuestro propio grupo personal y continuar apoyándonos mutuamente.

Estoy muy feliz de haber sido parte de este grupo. Este era el lugar correcto para que recibir ayuda.

Nota del editor: para una mirada conmovedora, auténtica y divertida de la desconexión y el amor entre los padres de inmigrantes y sus hijos Estadounidenses, vea Season 1, Episodio 2 de Aziz Ansari’s Master of None series, disponible en Netflix.

Angela’s Story

Editor’s Note: Operation Parenting is a parenting group for immigrant parents and other caregivers who have children in therapy at a Child Center behavioral health clinic. The groups are offered in clients’ home languages by therapists who come from the same culture as their clients. Angela attended the Spanish-speaking group at the Flushing Clinic.

I am Angela. I have an 11-year-old son named Franklyn. The Operation Parenting class helped me a lot to become a better mother. We discussed many things on how to solve problems without yelling. It gave me tools and ideas on how to handle my son better and understand why he acts the way he does.

I came to the group because Franklyn had a bad temper and wasn’t respecting me or his father. He doesn’t understand when we tell him we can’t buy him what he wants right away. He also gets scared of new things and places. I wanted to help him with this because I want him to be ready for the world out there without me helping him all the time.

All the topics we discussed every Friday helped me, my son, or my husband. One of them was, “Don’t give your son everything he wants. … Make him deserve or earn.” We discussed how to follow through with that idea so we know what to do in the moment.

Whatever I learn in the class, I try to do it in the house to find out if this new technique will help my son better. Every technique uses the same basic idea: that I want to build a relationship with my son, based on empathy and understanding, instead of demanding and shutting things down. I still have the authority, but now we have a conversation instead of yelling. As Benito, our group leader, says, if we introduce a change, the whole family dynamic will change. And because Franklyn is in therapy here, he is learning how to change, too. The change doesn’t happen overnight, but that is another thing I learned through this group: never give up and always find a way. Like they say, “Love will find a way,” and I love my children a lot.

Sometimes we are too stubborn or afraid or strong to look for help. Now I know that getting help made me a stronger mother. We don’t fight or yell that much since I started coming to the class. We understand each other better. We are happier as a family.

The group just ended, but the girls [moms in the group] all exchanged phone numbers to make our own personal group and continue to support each other.

I am so happy I was a part of this group. This was the right place for us to get help.

Editor’s note: For a moving, authentic, and funny look at both the disconnect and love between immigrant parents and their American children, see Season 1, Episode 2 of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None series, available on Netflix.

Daniel’s Story

August 29, 2019 | Leave a reply

Daniel is a client of The Child Center’s school-based mental health clinic at Richmond Hill High School and our Health Home Program, which serves Medicaid-eligible youth who suffer from multiple chronic conditions. The program ensures coordination of care so that needs are neither neglected nor duplicated and the client has access to the resources that will help him lead a healthy, fulfilling life.

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Jessica’s Story

May 17, 2019 | Leave a reply

Jessica, a Child Center of NY client, with her high school diploma from Young Adult Borough Center at Flushing High School

Jessica with her high school diploma

I was born and raised in Queens, with just my brother and my mother. My mother is from San Salvador; she raised me and my brother alone all of our lives. Although it was just the three of us, there were always good times. My mother always had my best interest in her mind. We did not have much money growing up, but my mother made sure we always had a roof over our heads and food on our table.

In school, I did OK for a while, but that changed when I got to high school. I was not thinking about my future, missing classes and enjoying time with friends. My lack of motivation or of any goals regarding what I wanted to do after high school made it all seem unimportant, and I became extremely behind in my classes.

When I finally decided I wanted to get my act together, I realized just how much damage I had caused myself. I couldn’t believe how many classes I needed in order to graduate on time. I tried to take as many classes as I needed to graduate, but it became too overwhelming and difficult. To make matters worse, I started to compare myself to others and think about where I should have been, about all the mistakes I had made over the years. I felt like I was the only one struggling with passing all my classes. I began to feel it was impossible for me to graduate.

I almost gave up, but then my counselor told me about Young Adult Borough Center at Flushing High School, where The Child Center of NY serves as lead CBO [community-based organization]. She told me that YABC was what’s called an alternate high school that focuses on providing individual support to help over-age and under-credited students graduate. Just knowing that there was such a place immediately made me feel better and less alone — and like graduating might actually be possible.

When I first arrived at YABC at the age of 18, the staff was very understanding and nonjudgmental about my difficulty with high school. They wanted to get to know me and what caused me to have difficulty in school to prevent it from happening again. I told them that I needed a lot of classes in order to graduate, and in the past I had become overwhelmed with how many classes I needed. When I mentioned this to the staff, they made sure I took classes and arranged a schedule that would not overwhelm me. The teachers made the environment very relaxed and easygoing to follow along with materials. I have had issues with teachers in the past, but at YABC the teachers were all amazing, and a big part of what helped me succeed. They all want to see you graduate and are very easy to talk to. They want to get to know you, hear what brought you here, and give you advice and their opinions on problems you might have. Thanks to the teaching at YABC, even when I needed a lot of classes, I never once felt overwhelmed or stressed. I never failed a single class.

Most of the students had the same mindset of wanting to graduate and move forward with their lives. The majority of them had been through the same struggle of trying to graduate and were determined to make it happen. I caught on to that mindset quickly, which really helped me not to focus on trivial things; it reminded me what I came there for: to graduate and to focus on my future.

I began to realize that I really could graduate, and that I needed a plan for post-graduation. I talked to Alain Cedeno, Flushing YABC’s assistant program director and coordinator of the LTW (Learn to Work) Program, and he helped me gain valuable work experience through an internship at The Child Center of NY.

My duties as an intern varied day to day from calling vendors to filing paper work and just helping around if anyone needed something, from copying to scanning. Just doing these simple tasks benefited me a lot. For example, calling vendors and talking to people helped me develop communication skills and taught me how to be more vocal in my everyday life.

By interning at The Child Center of NY, I was able to explore different fields and positions. This helped me profoundly, since before I started working at The Child Center of NY, I did not have an idea of what I wanted to do after I graduated. However, through working for The Child Center, I was able to gain an understanding of fields that I would be interested in — especially finance.

As time passed, people started to give me more tasks, and I became more comfortable. A full-time position opened up as Account Payable Associate, and thanks to my job performance, my supervisors at The Child Center recommended me for the position — and I got the job! Now that I am working at The Child Center of NY, I’m gaining valuable skills and assets that will help me in the future.

That’s the biggest thing that YABC helped me with: helping me focus on my future. Now that I understand the possibilities I can achieve, I have a drive and desire to improve myself for the long term. This past January, I realized a goal that a few years ago seemed impossible: I graduated from YABC and earned my high school diploma! My plan now is to pursue a professionally rewarding career in finance. In order to do that, I need to go to college. This fall, I will be starting my associate degree in accounting at LaGuardia Community College. Then I will pursue my bachelor’s degree. My goal is to have a career in accounting and become financially independent.

I know now that there a lot of people out there like me who have struggled to keep up in school and may be overwhelmed and feeling hopeless. I wish those people will find YABC instead of giving up. At YABC, everyone’s goal is to make sure you graduate, and they understand that there is more to life after high school. The staff and teachers will help with any issue you have, from a problem at home to a teacher or student. They will help you look toward your future after high school, from helping you apply to colleges to assisting you in looking for alternate education options aside from college. Through the internship program, you will be able to gain firsthand workforce experience, from working with animals to senior citizens and a wide variety of jobs. And if you are not interested in an internship, they will still help you look for a job or simply help you with your resumé. They believe in you — and as a result, you will believe in yourself, too.

Joshua’s Story

April 15, 2019 | Leave a reply

I came to New York from Guyana when I was 13 years old. I wasn’t too broken up about it. Now and again I did miss home, but I knew I had a lot of opportunities here. In this country you have a chance to make something of yourself.

One problem I had was issues with my brother, Jonathan. He was difficult to deal with. He would destroy my belongings, take my things … I would get mad and we’d have bad fights and disagreements. A few times things turned physical. That’s when I started counseling with Miss Austin in the HALE program. She talked with me, my mother, and sometimes Jonathan. She helped me learn how to handle my concerns without things turning physical and to recognize when to ignore things. She also helped my mom talk to Jonathan and help him understand that it isn’t acceptable to treat your family this way.

When I was 16, I told Miss Austin that I wanted to start working because I wanted some money in my pocket and to start taking care of myself. She told me about JobNet and helped me get started.

I met Samantha, who worked at JobNet, and Ms. Diggs, the program director, and I started working for the program as a receptionist. It was an interesting experience. I learned how to answer the phones, welcome and greet visitors, and take messages. Through Career Club I learned to be professional, to always be there on time, and to follow instructions. I enjoyed working with the people there, and it left me feeling like I had connections—that I could come back any time to show them what I was doing. People at JobNet want to help you make something of yourself. They care about your future. Even though I’m out of the program more than two years, I came back to show them what I’m up to now: becoming a firefighter.

When I first came to this country and was in middle school, I saw the ambulances and the firetruck go by and I had a feeling that was the career I wanted to get into. I did the hard work to get into FDNY Captain Vernon A. Richard High School for Fire and Life Safety and graduated in 2015.

Now I’m studying to become an NYC EMT, and then in a couple of years, I can become an FDNY firefighter.

The road wasn’t easy. The first time I took the test, I got a 68 and needed a 70. But I didn’t give up. I took it two more times, and I finally did it. Now I’ve completed the Winter EMS Academy, and I’m on my way to becoming a firefighter.

Things are better now.I had experiences at JobNet that I really treasure and that shaped me into the person I am supposed to be. I learned how to be responsible when I have a job to do, and that I can do it. And I never would have met these amazing people that I enjoy talking to.

My relationship with my brother is different from how it was back then. We don’t argue as much or get into altercations as much as we did back then. There’s less fights and more talking.

That’s one of the things I learned from Miss Austin and from the people at JobNet: Most things in life require hard work, but once you put in the work, the results you are looking for will happen.

Tristan’s Story

March 11, 2019 | Leave a reply

I struggle with math in school, and Mr. Hunter at the Redfern Cornerstone Community Center, where I go after school, helps me better understand my math problems. Mr. Hunter also helps me with focus, motivation, and becoming organized. He was able to explain things better for me to understand.

Before I started getting help at the center, I received a bad report card and was very disappointed. The staff in the center helped me understand the work and on the next report card not to fail and not to give up. Now I’m doing much better. I wish we had robotics here, but Mr. Hunter still teaches about history, science, money, and internet safety.

We don’t have much to do in Far Rockaway, and I come to the center to have fun plus see my friends. I like everything about the center! I like the computer lab, playing basketball games, dancing, and the staff. I don’t have a best part because I like everything. When the center was shut down, I did not have a place to go, so I stayed home with my grandmother after school.

I want to be a basketball player, wrestler, or scientist when I grow up. That’s why I like the science projects and goal-setting projects we do in Steps to Success at the center and the basketball games we go to.

The center is the place where you can be with your friends and call them family.

Kesha’s Story

February 1, 2019 | 2 Replies

Kesha when she was a student participant at The Child Center’s Parsons Beacon and in TIPP (Teen Impact Prevention Program)

I started with The Child Center of NY Parsons Beacon as a participant at the age of 11, in 1999. I knew about the program because my older brother attended Parsons Junior High School and was enrolled in the program.

I attended Parsons Junior High School from September 1999 until June 2002. I also continued to be a participant and was able to be involved in many things. Because of the willingness of Deepmalya (the program director at the time) to create a relationship with my very strict mother, I was able to partake in talent shows where I danced with groups of friends.

I was a part of the Parsons Beacon step team, and we were afforded the opportunity to travel the tri-state area and perform in competitions and showcases. We also were invited to step at Deep’s wedding! I had the honor of being a part of the first TIPP group (Teen Impact Prevention Program) ever, which was led by Amanda Etienne at the time. We were a group of preteens/teens who went out to high schools and teen conferences to put on skits and hold town hall discussions regarding HIV/AIDS and STD prevention. I was a part of this for several years, and it overlapped with my official hire as SYEP [Summer Youth Employment Program] in 2004.

I worked as a junior group leader at Basie Beacon M.S. 72 which led to me wearing several hats at that site for about five years. I made ID cards for new applicants and made replacements for those who have lost their ID card; helped with office tasks; took on the roles of senior group leader, recreational coordinator (orchestrated the tournaments, sign in, and set up of gym and activities), and basketball coach for our middle school boys’ team; and was still involved with TIPP.

Around 2008, I began to work at P.S. 223 OST [Out-of-School Time] as a group leader. The following year, I requested to become a specialist (Step specialist), where I had to demo a lesson and articulate why the participants of P.S. 223 would benefit.

Kesha speaking at a Child Center board meeting

I was a step specialist with them for the next three years and ran a video journalism club in 2011. I then left P.S. 223 and the organization in December 2012 to pursue other opportunities within the filed of Youth Development. In 2017 I applied for a program director position and I came back “home” to The Child Center in February of 2018.

I always tell everyone I was raised by afterschool programs and this is why. This organization has supported my growth from a preteen into adulthood.

If it wasn’t for Deep and his determination to keep me in the program during those times my mom wanted to take me out, I would have not learned my true passion in life, which is helping inner-city youth like me experience things I would have never been able to experience outside of the program.

Jiaxin’s Story

December 26, 2018 | 1 Reply

I came to The Child Center of NY when I was 14. Five years later, I’ve come a long way to be where I am now, talking about my journey and my healing through therapy. Some of it is hard to talk about, and some of it I have a hard time remembering, as a symptom of my post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s difficult to look back to the memories I do have, because I’ve matured a lot and have become a very different person. I can hardly imagine being the girl I was back then.

I started therapy at The Child Center’s Flushing Clinic as a result of a referral from my school. I felt lonely and empty. Everybody I knew called me weird, and I had no friends. To some, I may have just seemed edgy, but I had been suicidal and imagined different ways to kill myself. Now those feelings seem impossible. The helplessness I felt at the time seems so far away when I look back, as if I had dreamed it up.

My mother is a Chinese immigrant, and my father is a Hispanic American. When I was six, my mother left him due to the physical and emotional abuse she, my brother, and I had been subject to. We moved from shelter to shelter, and I transferred from school to school, where I was ridiculed and bullied by my classmates. At home, I resented my mother for her favoritism of my older brother. In Chinese families, the first-born son is always the favorite, and the women always come second. It was hard to connect to my mother anyway; we had different ideals. I was a self-described “daddy’s girl” at the time, and I idolized my father and thought that he was the only one who really understood me. But he had never been financially responsible or emotionally available for my needs. I was enmeshed in multilayered ethnic and cultural conflicts, value systems, and moral confusion. I trusted no one and did not identify with my peers. I didn’t even relate to my family.

Then I met my therapist who, through talking and sharing my thoughts, I created a bond of trust with. She was also a bridge that connected my mother and me, as she was Chinese and could understand the more traditional values of being Chinese. She helped me reconcile some aspects of being a Chinese American. Suddenly I didn’t feel so left out, especially as someone who wasn’t fully Chinese. I developed a sense of hope through her acceptance of who I was and was getting better.

However, the road to becoming stronger than my depression or anxiety was far from over. My paternal aunts denied my mental illness and tried to violently exorcise me. It is one of the darkest moments in my life, and to this day it still affects me. I had my physical and emotional control ripped from my hands, and my support cut off completely. I attempted suicide twice. I worked through the challenges I faced in the aftermath with my therapist — the nightmares and all, and through that I became stronger than what I felt. I cut contact completely with my paternal family, and I started to heal. Wounds became scabs, became scars.

But my story doesn’t end there. Even though I was improving every step of the way — my grades were up, I was volunteering and working in summer, and I was even applying to college — I had also been slowly piecing together, through journaling and voice recording, some scattered traumatic memories. And even though I still doubt it sometimes, there is undeniable evidence that my father sexually molested and abused me in some way when I was a child. I will probably never know what happened in detail, nor do I ever want to. But it was truly a milestone revelation. I experienced a therapeutic catharsis through finding and talking about it, but I would have never gotten this far without the trust I had in my therapist. I would have never verbalized the doubts and fears I had otherwise. And without her support through the aftermath, knowing that she would be there if I felt depressed, I don’t know how I would have coped.

As I worked through my feelings and emotions, I began to change my outfit and diet, and soon I began looking like your average teenager. I started to focus on better things in life, things that I had always loved, like animals. I started meeting new friends, I came closer to terms with the multicultural conflict in my life, and I even grew out of my brother’s shadow. Soon I graduated high school and started my first year at Hunter College. Currently I am in my second year of college, majoring in psychology with a concentration in animal behavior. I’ve made so many new friends, and I’m excited to see what life has in store for me.

Justin’s Story

December 3, 2018 | Leave a reply

Hello, my name is Justin, and I’m 18 years old. I graduated from August Martin High School and now attend college at West Virginia University Potomac State College.

The beginning of high school was a difficult time for me. There were things at home I couldn’t control. My family was living in a shelter and struggling financially—and I was struggling with my schoolwork. I needed something to get me on the right track. I joined the WIOA program so that I could get a summer job and earn stipends. Then I could use the money to help pay for bills and expenses to help my family out and find a more stable living situation.

It turned out that WIOA was the best program I ever attended throughout my high school years. One of my struggles was balancing my classwork and social life. I loved basketball and all I wanted to do was play the game and work out. Basketball was an escape for me. However, Mr. Eric, Ms. Michelle, and Mr. Maurice showed me that I had to look not just at escaping. They showed me that basketball gave me opportunities to do more than just play a sport and how to use the sport as a tool—to open up doors with people and how to be professional when I was talking. I liked that they didn’t downplay the importance of basketball in my life, but instead showed me how I could use it for more than just an escape. It got me thinking about the importance of networking with people and how I could use my strengths and experiences to better my life.

The same thing happened with the summer job I got through WIOA, working at Walgreens. I was able to apply the concepts I learned with basketball to my job and learn so much more than how to operate a register, and earn more than the dollars I was paid. I acquired a strong work ethic and became skilled at and comfortable with interacting with others in a professional way. WIOA really emphasized knowing what you’re doing and why, and that helped me make the most of my job, basketball, and school.

At school, I was struggling with my Regents exams, the college application process, and with my education in general, because no one in my family earned beyond a high school diploma, and I didn’t really know about college or have a strong support system. But WIOA became that support system. Mr. Eric helped me understand why college was important and what I needed to do in order to get there. The staff helped me get ready for college and become more focused, and they helped me with applications and financial aid. I applied early and got into West Virginia University and received enough financial aid to make it possible for me to go.

WIOA also stresses helping in the community. One of the best service learning projects I did was when we partnered with Friends of Rockaway and helped with Hurricane Sandy relief. We went out over several weeks and helped with the rebuilding of someone’s home. We were also able to go out to the community to see if others were hit by the storm, too. This was very impactful for me because I got to know my director, Mr. Eric, so much better and understand how he is in the position and the job he’s in now but wasn’t always. He struggled similar to how I have been struggling but still made it in life. It made me believe that I can, too, and can give back to my community and make it better—the way other people have worked to make it better for me.

I participated in WIOA for two full years before graduating high school and starting college this fall. I hope going to college and earning a degree will open doors and opportunities for me and my family.

I’m still in my first year so I’m not exactly sure what I want to do, but I’m looking at sports management and political science. I feel so lucky to have these options.

One of the best things I got out of WIOA was that it shaped my values and made me more aware of what I’m doing and why. I used to never reflect on why I was doing something and how it played a role in my larger goals. I didn’t really think about the purpose. Now thinking about those things is second nature to me.

Life without WIOA — I can’t really picture that because they helped me so much to get where I am today. If I didn’t become a part of WIOA, I would not have had the skills or the resources I needed to go to college. Being out of state is the best thing that ever happened to me. Getting to know new things and develop relationships and network with different people was a great thing, too.

This is my story of being a student of WIOA. It’s still helping me.