Catching up

They say that kids can have second chances in life, and I learned the hard way that’s true. Texas ChalleNGe Academy is the second chance for kids like me to get structure and improve our lives.

At home, I wasn’t the best person. I was a liar and a cheat. I would steal little things that were of no real value to me. By the time I was fifteen, my mom lost all trust in me. I don’t blame her. I thought about just running away or even worse, just ending it all. But that would just make me an idiot and wouldn’t solve anything.

By chance I found TCA. It seemed like it took forever to get here, but on July 16, I arrived. On day zero, my mom looked me in the eye and said she was proud of me. I told her I would do the whole five and a half months here for her so that she could always be proud of me.

We get up every day at 4:30 in the morning and then do physical fitness from 5:00-6:00. We then go to school. School is at our own pace, and we can recover credits and even have the chance to get our GED.

Every Saturday we go out in the community and do service projects, and on Sundays we do haircuts and watch a life skills movie.

While I am here, I am working on myself. I want to get smarter and stronger. I am part of the Delta Platoon and I was the first guide on and I was the third squad leader for Squad Three. I even worked extra hard to become private first class.

As you’re reading this, we will have had family day on September 23. I will have seen my mom, brother, and grandparents for the first time in ten weeks. I hope I am starting to make them proud.

The best thing about TCA is I am not alone. There are other kids here who really want to better themselves. I would recommend TCA to students who want to better themselves and catch up on school and learn structure. It is a second chance.