Amy

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Along with high school and hormones comes the desire for romance, and so I got involved with a 16 year old boy my freshman year in high school. At first, it didn’t seem abusive, but his growing dependency increased as I struggled to form my own personality. You can remember how it was, a confused teenager with a million thoughts running through your mind. What is the meaning of life? What do I want to be when I grow up? I hate school. My parents are on my case about everything. I want to travel. This acne medication isn’t working. I want to lose weight. Where am I going to college? His manipulating attitude influenced my goals and ambitions. He, who should have been a friend, turned into an enemy very quickly. He placed rules on who I could and could not talk to and threw away what he thought was provocative clothing so other boys wouldn’t look at me. After, he became jealous of my academic achievements and made me choose what I cared about most, school or him. I was going along with my feelings instead of common sense and fell into a warped mindset because of his of manipulation.

It was the remarks about my looks and his claim to be the only one who could ever love me that battered and bruised my self-esteem, not to mention the awkward pressures of sex. It took verbal abuse, three police calls, two years and one pregnancy test for me to realize I needed help. I ended it with him and changed my phone number to avoid his threatening phone calls. I vowed to myself to never let anyone come between the love for myself and my goals.

I look back at these memories and think to myself, how could I have let something like that happen to me? And I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have any guidance. What I thought was fun turned into a situation that changed my perspective and path in life.

Soon, I founded Club Latino in my high school so teenagers could have an activity to get involved in after school. We hosted “Open Mic Night” where teens could get on the microphone and have the stage to do whatever they want. I would usually read poetry whereas my friends would sing a song or talk about an issue they were struggling with. This was exactly what I needed so I could be directed from my damaged mentality to the right path of success and ambition. My expectations for myself were put up to a much higher bar and I began finding ways to relieve stress through Club Latino.

Later, I decided to volunteer for my local ambulance corps. I attended Emergency Medical Technician school for three months and graduated the academy with fire fighters and police officers. I began riding the ambulance and responding to calls, broadening the possibilities that life had to offer. I was exposed to real life situations and finding remedies to soothe the excitement in an emergency situation. In addition to riding the ambulance, I found free time on the weekends to volunteer in the emergency room at Jersey City Medical Center in Jersey City. It was this point in my life where I realized I had a growing passion for medical services.

I watched my priorities change and pulled myself out of a strong negative current to float towards what I really want out of life, to be successful and to be independent. I attended National Leadership Conferences to learn and grow into a better, intellectual, and prominent woman. I realized the mistakes I made during my first two years in high school and had to pay for them by choosing to take extra summer classes to advance in mathematics, I earned college credit at New York University. However, the biggest achievement I am proud of is starting a chapter of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) with my sister at my high school. I am a keynote speaker when it comes to dating violence and advocating peace during disagreements with couples. I am now a high school senior in the class of 2009.

I only hope to be the guidance young girls need because I know that I needed guidance once. I know there are many factors in a young teenager’s life that aid in negative outcomes however I also know to achieve dreams takes hard work and faith. I want to encourage young girls everywhere that they can achieve if they believe. And the more obstacles we overcome, the more powerful we grow to overcome greater obstacles.

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