Focusing in

VIEWPOINT OF A TEXAS CHALLENGE ACADEMY CADET

Before I came to Texas ChalleNGe Academy, I was not living my best life. At the age of fifteen, I started acting out and began hating the way that I looked. I started running with a bad group of kids and began getting in trouble with my family.

I would not listen to them when they were trying to help me or to get me to change. I pushed them further and further away. I did not love myself anymore and I sure did not think they could love me either. If they asked me to do things for them, I would not do them, and I just continued to do bad things just to make myself feel better.

Now that I am seventeen and at TCA, I have began to realize that the life I was living was taking me nowhere and that the people I was hanging out with were not real friends. I am glad that I have come and been given the chance to get focused more.

Living with all of these girls with different flaws than me has taught me to really like myself and see that I can be funny and happy. I am starting to take notice of the things that are important in life and leave the little things behind.

I am looking forward to graduating from here and starting my new life with a better outlook on life. I am ready for a new start.