A b e c e d a r i a n

What did you derive from the program?

 

Family and Exposure. To a lot of different things. Everybody came together. Everybody looked after one another. Whenever there was any sort of problem there was a comfort....I could come whenever and express myself. It was the greatest feeling. Cause I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. I was going to be helped by people to the best of their ability. I've come out with a lot of friends who are very close to me; dearly.

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Support It was like a backbone. If I was messin' up in school there was somebody there. To tell me. It wasn't a yellin'. It wasn't telling me I had to do it.....It was just expressing the importance of going to school and doing well. Cause this was like my future. So it was easier to understand and it was coming from somebody who I knew cared. And it made me feel better. And it made me work harder.

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It wasn't always easy. It wasn't always fun. I didn't always want to do it. But there was always someone there to make sure I didn't fall over.

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Exposure

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It's exposed me so much to so many different kinds of things, to so many different kinds of people. Different kind of people from different kinds of neighborhoods. I'm from 77th street and West End . Now I'm surrounded by people from 157th and Broadway, 181 in Brooklyn, these are different neighborhoods...In a way we all have something similar. I learned from each individual.....which showed me a lot of different aspects of life. At the same time how we all had the same dreams but weren't sure how to get there . Or, we just didn't care about the dream.

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Also exposure to learning different kinds of things, exposure to the sciences, to Martial Arts, to the English classes, to Mexico, to letter writing to Albany ...that was an exposure.....

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The Difference Between School and Liberty

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It was more enjoyable and more understanding the education from Liberty. .The education from school was more blank. They were just telling us stuff. But they weren't telling us why or where this information comes from.....It was here is the text book, some guy wrote it, and this is what he saw..... I was able to question and in school you're not. You weren't able to. It was just : This is this. Do that ! and Okay, this is what you get. And that was it. You just learn that.

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It helped me. To come here, learn and then go back to school. I would raise my hand constantly: "But" and "What if this might occur" or "how do you know this did happen" and "how much of this is actual fact". I would question everything ... And make sure I got it correctly. It made my own opinion. Now I could understand it in a better way because of my own experiences and relate, I could make things relate easier.....
 

Without Liberty:

 

I'd probably be in community college. Not knowing what the hell I want to do for a future. Probably going through the motions. And that's because of my mom and not because I wanted to. It wouldn't be my choice. I'd probably just be working in some supermarket or something. Not really doing much of anything. Probably hopping around from job to job. Little jobs. Really not doing anything.

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At Risk

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kids who can go either way.

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Underprivileged

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Yea that was me too. Having nowhere to go nothing to do, nothing to look forward to, no desire. ....

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Hope

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Is what you get when you come into this program. You get some sort of light. That's what hope is. Hope is a chance. Hope is a dream. Hope is something to get you going, and striving to get somewhere. To search: cause at risk and underprivileged means no hope. That's what a lot of kids think.

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Trust

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Trust you get here. You get it from your peers.

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Success

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Moving on. Doing what you feel comfortable doing. You feel like you are moving up. Like you are stepping up.

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Working with kids:

 

What I see in kids now are the same friends I grew up with. And they kind of got lost. And I just want to lead them. Show them that there is hope. Give them hope. Give back. Give back to the community. Give back to the kids. Cause I was glad that there were people there for me. It's such an enjoyment to see when you have helped somebody. Anybody.... When you just help them with anything you know. You just give them a little push and they go with it. You show them trust....and they give you trust. We have that understanding. It might not be something big. But just hear to listen. Just to play basketball with them. I just want to show them also that I can do it that they can do it... somebody has done it. Somebody from their community has done it. It's just giving back.

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How do you want people to remember you?

 

I don't know, Dave, how do you remember me?

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I remember you always as a good boy who needed to know that there were people there for him. That you could be relied upon. That when you did screw up you just needed to know you screwed up. But that your intentions were always good. You never looked to hurt anybody. You never looked to hurt yourself. And you just needed the opportunities . That's how I'll always remember you and now I'll always remember that you took advantage of those opportunities.