Good Choices

"So finally I had it up to my eyeballs! A brother in law from Milwaukee says 'get away from this place (father's farm during the depression). You'll never amount to anything here. It's no good.' So I took his advice."
Fred (mentor)

"I got my G.E.D. and I feel as if I'm improving and ahead of my class. Although college is somewhat difficult, I try my hardest to succeed."
Monica (mentor)

"They used to call me 'wild Bill' and stuff like that. I was never a conformist. Practically everybody I knew smoked and I was a basketball player so I didn't smoke. I pole vaulted to get high."
Bill (mentor)

"I chose not to do drugs, and I have a few more brain cells now, so that choice was definitely a good one."
Sean (mentee)

"I had to take a shop job to help keep the family together. I was supposed to graduate in 1935 but I didn't graduate 'till 1937..but I did go back and graduate. The family has always been pretty close and I had to take a job to help so these other things (graduating on time) didn't happen like I planned."
Tony (mentor)

"One of the most important choices I have ever made was the choice to stay sober. It has affected my life in a very positive way. I made the decision to be sober when my cousins got into a car accident. I was not in the car with them because I had some things to do at my house. They were all smoking weed and drinking, I guess they hit a car on the expressway and barely escaped with their lives. When I found out I was so scared , I kept thinking what if I had been in the car with them."
Erin (mentee)

"The decision to find real friends that actually care about me saved me from being hurt by people that don't care about me...The decision to stay in school and really put my mind to doing well has helped me to better myself and to learn responsibility. "
Devon (mentee)

"Teen life in the 90's is difficult to most teenagers, with all the violence and drugs going around it's hard to stay away from all of it. Luckily I learned to "just say no." A lot of kids are getting into trouble because of their friends pressuring them to do stuff. That is the hardest obstacle growing up as a teenager in the '90's."
Mike (mentee)

"I'm staying in school. I know this will help me get a better job and a brighter future. I know that if I dropped out of school I probably wouldn't be happy with my life later on. I know that I need to stay in school and go to college. I don't want to end up in an unhappy life with regrets..."
Dan (mentee)