NCSALL

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Student Stories


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by Margarita Roman
Participating in this presentation has made me become a better person in school. It has also helped me speed up in all skills.

The presentation I did with the group was progress for myself and also helped others. I participated by letting students know how dif cult it was for me since dropping out of school. It was not a good decision.

My story was part of my life. I advised students on the importance of staying in school. I shared my education and how I've progressed in the past year. I shared how I've managed 12 years of my life raising my three kids with the help of the government, which won't be there for me much longer. I spoke on how I've budgeted my assistance through the month with three kids. I also shared what it's like returning to school and beginning learning again, building up new skills, and also building up self-esteem and positive attitudes towards education.

The presentation was very interesting. Our group had all the attention of the students. It felt great having so much attention. Also our group had a lot of questions from the students at Anson Jones Middle School. I feel like it was very successful.

 

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by Linda Yzaguirre
The biggest mistake I ever made was dropping out of school. I thought going out and working were more important, but all I got by dropping out was working minimum wage jobs, hanging out with gangs, and eventually getting arrested. I spent time in jail and am currently serving a ten year probation sentence.

I decided to do our "Something to Think About" presentation because I thought that if young students heard my story and all the mistakes I made, they might think about what they are doing now and how it will effect them later. I never did.

In our presentation, I wanted to stress how important it is to graduate and go to college. A high school diploma is no longer enough to get a good job. I feel better knowing that maybe I helped someone from making the same mistakes I made. Maybe by hearing my life story, they will decide that they don't want to take the same road I did. Since doing the presentation, I now have more con dence in myself. I'm now in junior college and feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.

 

About the Authors

Margarita Roman is a 28-year-old single mother. She likes to spend lots of time with her three kids, Ernest Jr., Alfonso, and Concepcion Margarita Diaz. She enjoys eating out on weekends and going out to recreation parks. She also enjoys helping her kids with their homework, which has helped them improve in the second nine weeks of school, and they also have perfect attendance. She enjoys reading books with them.

Linda Yzaguirre was a student of the Culebra Road JOBS class in 1997 and is currently attending San Antonio College, where she is studying computer programming. When she's not in school, she likes to spend time with her son Brandon.