The Other Wes Moore Page 179

 

Wes Moore and I are very similar. I took the higher path because I know what life has to offer just like that of Wes Moore. Growing up there is always someone other than family who looks out for you and tries to ensure you are on the right path. For Wes Moore, it was a mentor but for me, it was a program. In high school, I entered the Rutgers Women Leadership program. It was a turning point in my life. Before this program, I did not take high school seriously. It was not until I saw people who cared about my future besides family that I started to take the initiative to do the right thing. This program was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The females that attended loved it just like myself. There were multiple mentors. They were all women of color at that. They were successful, which made me want to be better as a woman. I used to get into a lot of fights in high school, it was so bad I almost lost my life in one of my fights. My friends and I got jumped by about sixty people and one of the girls cut me with a razor on my temple. I lost so much blood and by the time I arrived at the hospital, the doctors said I had fifty percent life left. I needed blood transfusions and double stitches. I suffered for a while after that. You would think that would stop my hot-headedness but to no avail, it did not I was on home instruction because I was injured so badly. When I finally returned to school I entered The Rutgers Women's Leadership Program. This program was a much-needed pivot in my life. We would get on the school bus every week to go visit Rutgers University where we would have our meetings. We would sit for hours and just talk about life and solutions to problems we may have been facing during that time. We also went on field trips and gave back to the community. I had never been involved in something of that caliber besides Girl Scouts (which I hated).  I could not take Girl Scouts seriously because I was way too young to understand what they were offering us. The Rutgers Women's Leadership Program came right on time. I was ready to receive the message that they were sending. This was probably one of the most influential things in my life. Not only did it change me but I started to excel in school instead of doing just enough to pass. I wanted to have more because of those women. I hoped that one day that would be me on the other end giving out positive vibes to teens. I saw myself in those women and that meant everything to me. I may have seemed like a troubled teen because of all of the fighting but I was just simply misguided.