Student, VA Home for Boys and Girls
The greatest influence on my life is not a person or an event. It is a place which I absolutely hated as soon as I was brought here. It is a place I now call home. I was fourteen years old when I first came to the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls. It was like being in jail, or at least I thought so. Before being brought to this awful place, I was a free spirit, throwing cans and bottles through the open windows of passing cars and showing my speed by running through the woods and hiding. Now I was expected to follow rules and take responsibility for my actions. No way was I going to settle for this kind of nonsense.
The home on campus I was going to live in had just been built. The other homes were old and worn out from all the young men who had gone through the doors before me. I hated it here and my start was rough. But, just as the old houses were torn down and rebuilt, so were my bad behaviors and my disrespectful mouth. As I watched new houses being built, I watched myself slowly change my old ways and grow into a respectful and awesome young man.
I realized I had a future. I realized I could make it whatever I wanted to. All I had to do was work hard, and I could achieve anything I could dream. Now I am in my senior year of high school and my time at the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls is almost over. I look back and see how both the campus and I have changed. When I first came here, no girls were admitted. Now we have two girls’ homes on campus. All the old houses have been rebuilt and a new school is being constructed this year.
When I leave this place, I will leave my old ways and replace them with my new dreams. I know I will be a success, as I was given a chance to see the real me and to see all my potentials. The greatest influence on my life has been the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls, and I hope I will be able to mentor young men in the future, just as I have been mentored here.
January 2007