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When I first came to Texas ChalleNGe Academy, I can’t believe how scared, sad, and lonely I was. I felt all of it. This was my plan Z. I had used up all of my other plans. After getting suspended from school yet again, I broke down in tears and told my mom that I needed help.
I had a good life at home, but I made everything hard. Anger had a choke hold on me, and I couldn’t get it off. When I first thought of TCA, I went to a Zoom meeting about it. I was angry the whole time I was at that meeting, but I knew this is where I needed to be.
Now that I am here, that anger is gone and things are easier for me. Time hacks are everywhere though. Just when I think we may be getting a break, there might be a three minute timer on that break.
We eat three times a day, but TCA doesn’t call it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We just call it chow. After we get up at 4:30, we do PT, go to chow, and then formation. After formation, school starts.
School is pretty easy for me. Before each core course, we take prescriptive tests to see what we already know. Even though English is my hardest class, I am still getting through it. We have chow in the middle of it and then after school we have small units or other activities and then chow again.
All in all, the hardest part about being here is having no family with me. Yes, we get to call home every Sunday, but we start to miss their hugs and definitely the food.
As a girl here, one thing that is hard to avoid is the girl drama that goes on in the bays. But if you stay out of that, things aren’t so bad. I am making friends here that I will actually talk to when I leave. I know that when I go home, I don’t want to associate with my old so- called friends; they really never had my back.
Even though this is a hard program to complete, I am happy that I came here and met other cadets who are going through this challenge with me. They really do make this temporary habitat feel like home.
