Student becomes the mentor  Dear CS,
I come from a place where nobody gives me any responsibilities, nothing to take pride in. My experience in the Community Solutions program has been nothing but great for me, it made me question my career path. . . maybe I want to be a mentor. I want to help more young children, girls in particular, that have a similar history as me, to show them that their situations don’t dictate their future. It’s amazing how some things play out, I was in the Community Solutions programs for 2 years, I believe. When I first started in the after school program, I never spoke because I was still upset at the fact that I was in foster care. I didn’t want to be there at all. I started to open up months after starting. I grew to love Mr. John and Mr. Joe, my two favorite staff! They never gave up on me, everyday they would try to get me to speak, they did everything but it was on me to stop giving one word responses and hold a conversation with them. After that it’s history, now I talk holes in everybody’s head. I was in the CS Brighter Futures summer camp as well. I liked it, it was a great learning experience. I got a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken soon after the summer camp was over. I learned so many things about the business world… how to dress, how to properly interview, how to speak, all that good stuff. This summer I reached out the Mr. Larry for a job opportunity because I quit my job at Kentucky Fried Chicken and needed a job for the summer. He gave me a chance as a camp counselor. Being a camp counselor was probably the most fun but stressful thing I’ve ever done. There were so many different personalities who needed very different kinds of attention, it blew my mind. There were 3 pre-teen girls that I connected with because in every single one I saw a part myself. Even though they didn’t like my leadership or take it seriously because I was closer in age to them than everybody else, I just wanted to guide them in the right direction. In my opinion. they believe that fun equals trouble, which is so untrue. I wanted them to understand that I’ve done everything they have done and probably more. It was short lived though, they didn’t want my guidance. Besides that, I got to be a child again, I probably had more fun on some field trips than most of the children. Just being a part of the CS staff or family was amazing, it made me realize how much I loved to be around children. I just want to thank you all for giving me the experiences and continuing to help me throughout my senior year of high school, preparing me for college and the adult world. Thank you, Diamond
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