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VIEWPOINT OF A TEXAS CHALLENGE ACADEMY CADET
Before coming to Texas ChalleNGe Academy, my life was full of regrets. I felt as if I were at the end of the road and was spending my time drinking and smoking. I had even considered self-harming. I was failing all my classes and was getting caught up in trouble.
This all happened before I was adopted, but when I got adopted, I was very disrespectful and caused my mom so much pain. I wish I could go back and change that, but I can’t. The one result that happened because of my actions is that my mom sent me to TCA to see if it would help me. Little did I know that TCA would really change my life for the better.
I am not a stranger to losing people that I love and I didn’t trust many people. But here at TCA, I have learned that I am not alone and that I matter.
TCA has its flaws, but there are more positives than negatives once I gave this place a chance. Mrs. Tice, our English teacher, made me fall in love with English and books all over again. Ms. Gonzalez taught me that I can be a better person than who I was.
From Ms. Vela, I learned that people leave but it doesn’t mean it is my fault and that there are people who really do love me. During one of the many conversations with Director De Mers, I learned that I matter.
Coming from a broken home and a broken childhood, TCA has become the home I never had. All twenty-six other girls in Echo Bay have felt like sisters I never had. Even though I have had my share of troubles here, TCA has always forgiven me and showed me that I can make mistakes but learn from them and get better.
TCA will be a chapter in my book that has a little whisper from God in it because that’s what TCA has been; a whisper and a blessing.
When I go home in December, I will show others that I will pick myself up as many times as I need to, and I will make everyone at TCA proud of me.
