|
Success stories
Goodbye to attitude and anger:
Student Shanequal P.
Shanequal's home life had been unstable for as long as she could remember... and she was angry about it.
"I was rude. I had a real bad attitude" she remembers.
When she learned about Community for Youth at the start of her freshman year, she signed up just so she could go to camp. When she arrived at the four-day CfY launch course, she found that camp was quite different than what she expected.
"It was a powerful learning experience" Shanequal states. "It brought everybody who went there closer together. It taught me what was holding me back from doing what I wanted in school and in life: my attitude and not wanting to communicate with anybody, being stubborn, being very mean. I held everything inside."
During that four-day launch, Shanequal was matched with mentor Reggie Soprano, and initially, she wasn't too happy about it.
"At first, it was a race thing" Shanequal admits. "I'm African-American and she isn't. I really wasn't expecting to travel around with someone not my color. I didn't think I would be able to relate to her. I didn't think she could understand. But she did. I was able to look past her color and see her as a person."
Although Reggie left CfY after one year to work in Africa for the Peace Corps, she and Shanequal remain close. "I loved her a lot and we got along great. She was a good part of my life and still is" the teenager says.
As a sophomore, Shanequal joined a family group and shared two mentors with four other girls. The relationships have continued to help her share her feelings and seek advice about school, family, dating and future plans. CfY has had such an impact on her life that Shanequal says she wouldn't hesitate to encourage other students to take part.
"I would tell them that it's fun, you'll learn a lot... and you'll grow closer to other kids even when you don't expect to" she advises. "(In your mentor), you'll have a true friend, someone you can talk to about anything and that person won't judge you or won't leave you."
Thanks to CfY, Shanequal says she can envision her life as an adult who is a lot less angry about anything I've been through. "I'll be a lot more willing to talk to anyone and I'll help others more than I do now. It opened me up as a person and made me see that I don't need to hate and blame anyone for anything. I need to live for me and count on myself to make good decisions."
|
