Free Soda Pop And The Promise Of A Five Course Breakfast

I leaned my head against the car window watching the leaves blowing around, just trying to distract myself from a slight feeling of emptiness inside of me. This feeling seemed all too familiar to me. My family and I had all of our possessions packed into boxes yet again. We were moving to a new state. At this point, up rooting our lives and starting over almost seemed more like a hobby than anything more significant. However, I have just now come to realize that what seemed like constant inconveniences in the past, have actually taught me how to be the best me with influences all around the country. Living in three different states and five homes may have been a challenge, but it provided me with memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything because those moments created the person I am today.

When I was a child, most of the stories or situations I have been through was, mostly, my dad hitting me and my parents fighting constantly; so pretty much I did not really grew up watching Barney, traveling to places, and going to Disneyland often. I thought I would have to live like this for the rest of my academic life, but one day around the age of eight, my dream came true. My parents had enough of each other, so they went their own ways; even though, I was glad that I do not have to life miserably anymore, I was not. I thought that everything would settle down and live a calm life with my mom, but as a result, I ended up raising my two siblings. My dad left the house, my mom was in her own world, and I had to watch my siblings. I thought my parents divorce would benefit me, but all it did was for me to not live as an eight-year-old would. I thought that my dream of going to a great university and becoming a Physician Assistant came crashing down. A couple weeks later, my dad came back and long-story short, my siblings and I had to go hang out with my dad for

I am the way I am because of my father, he drives me to get an education, and he wants me to be better than him. My dad constantly tells me “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you’re going to be.” This quote means significantly to me because when I was in 6th grade I would hang out with the wrong crowd, later when I was a freshman, I made new friends, better friends, and the ones that push me to strive. My mom is my rock, she struggles sometimes since she raised my brother and I alone, but she always finds a way to get us what we need for school and sports that we play in. I have this picture of my brother, my cousin, and I in front of our house when we first bought it, it’s been 17 years that I’ve been living in it. It may not be the nicest house, but its payed off and I have a roof over my head, to me that’s all that matters. My neighborhood is actually quiet, I have 3 neighbors that are nice people, when we go out of town they watch our house for

I was able to be myself and I felt free. With a few bucks in my pockets, I felt I could buy the clothes I wanted and those skinny jeans I saw at urban outfitters. I came home one day galvanized only to find ambulances outside my aunt's house and my mom on the stretcher bed. My mom has been ill and had an infection that ate her leg. Days I would come home and it smelled like rotting flesh it was her. I spent months with her after her amputation. One of the kids who 've met, she and her mother allowed me to stay at their home, but I was no longer a teen and her daughter who liked me was underage, but they were in need as I was, they had little money and 4 mouths to feed and had just found an advantageous paying job so I figured I help them for helping me. 4 mouths turned into five and I quickly realized I was being played not by the daughter, but by the mother and quickly left them alone and used wisdom, for I cannot help others until I help myself and they were too broken. I saved my money and got an apartment on my own. I take care of my mother who is now disabled and I am taking on the challenges of adulthood. I ride a 2-hour bus to work and back every day. I get up 4 o'clock in the morning and don't make it home until 8pm at night. I feel accomplished an 18-year-old with his own apartment, taking care of his mother, and I might not have a car...yet but it's so close I can taste

My life in my perspective has been extraordinary. I have been fortunate enough to travel the United States and live in various parts as well. Each environment that I have been exposed to have differed from one another. The environments in which I was raised changes When my father received his orders. then my family and I have to move to another region of the United States. with these experiences, I have been well-rounded to accommodate to my new and unfamiliar surroundings. throughout my life, I've been privileged to see the world through my own eyes instead of reading about it end books and watching it on television. for example, Honolulu, Hawaii 2 people who have never been the entire island is a resort. but in all actuality the island experiences poverty. without me having to move every so often I wouldn't have known that but the experience of knowing that there are a big world out there very productive gains.

When I was in high school I was actively involved in my community. I have tried to get as involved here at UNCW but have not found the resources that I was looking for until now. In high school, I was a Teacher Cadet, a Breakfast Buddy and a member of JROTC. Teacher Cadets was a program at my high school where students who had been selected by the coordinator, with letters of recommendation from other teachers, were already well involved in the community and could be trusted were picked to go out to various middle schools and teach lessons to different grade levels. In some instances, you were paired with another student, but most often you were alone. We went to two schools each week and a third every other week. Not only did we have to create

When we were traveling to America we faced many difficulties, but once we made it to our Aunt's house in Virginia we knew it was going to be a great, yet grueling experience. When I first started going to school it seemed as if I was on another planet. Everyone looked different, spoke a strange language, and had a distinct mindset then me; the life of a kid should seem easy because there isn’t anything to worry about, yet worrying about everything was my coping mechanism. When I entered middle school depression and anger hit me like a freight train, so much to the point where I almost committed suicide. Fighting my so called friends for “fun” and not caring about my future was my life for those

You know growing up I never had a “fairytale” childhood. My parents fought, my sisters and I didn’t get along. Yes, I know that we had good times. I am aware of that. But it just got really hard some days. And that is what threw me into a funk. Then when I

I was eleven years old when my world crumbled to pieces as a side effect of depression. Although I was able to force myself to look happy on the outside, my depression and thoughts of suicide ate away at all the skills that allowed me to function in life. I was left unmotivated, unenergized, and wanting to disappear. Out of the 180 day school year my freshman year, I attended only 80 of those days. I was unable to live and achieve the future everyone thought I was capable of having. It took countless hours in therapy, support from teachers, counselors, and family, and a will to continue pushing forward when it seemed impossible. Yet like the lotus flower, I bloomed from the bottom of a muddy pool, breaking through the surface ready to take in the sun.

Pain, despair, loss, depression, anxiety. Those are the things that somehow made me as I am today. On October 8th I was born, a happy baby who had no idea the rough road ahead. When I was in second grade my parents got divorced. I was close to my mom so when she moved away I was lost in a whole new way. My dad had always had some anger issues but when they split it was a little more frequent. I had to move schools the next year and it was weird because I didn’t know anything about public school. I remember one day a girl walked up to me and asked if I wore mascara and I didn’t even know what that was. I didn’t know how to make friends, so I decided to be friends with the first person I met. That was a big mistake because she was just

Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton started the free breakfast program in Berkeley, California, 1968 if was the first significant community program organized by the panthers they feed more than 20,000 children in 19 cities. Four months into the free programs nationwide while trying to feed the children there where skepticism, resistance and outright opposition the programs had encountered. The authority were opposed to feeding some of the kids, and adamantly so. The harassment of the breakfast programs came from the police and FBI counterintelligence Program they was supposed to expose, disrupt, misdirect t or neutralize the activities Panthers. They started rumors that the breakfast unsafe they are infected with venereal diseases, the chief organizer

At a young age, having all four of my grandparents die was crushing. One in front of me, two by suicide and one to cancer. In the second grade when my dad went to rehab, not only eroding our relationship, but also tearing apart my family. As a result, during my third grade year, sleep was rare due to the echoing fighting that I would hear in the adjacent room. Meanwhile this lack of sleep only made school worse. Being called a “retard” because dyslexia made it a pain in the ass to read. This fearful environment slowly began to embed anxiety into my young self. Now that my family was begging to get tired of my hometown in Arizona, we packed our bags and moved to San Diego. In 6th grade is where I got into my first fist fight in the middle school locker room, where Mr. Beckley had to break us apart. Only giving me the “new kid” a bad reputation to some, but respect to others. The ones who began to give me respect, would only bring me down further than I already was. On to my later years in middle school where I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Witch felt like a constant rain cloud over me at all times, where the weight of my bed sheets was too much to handle. Therefor causing more chaos in my family. This would give myself an almost constant knot in my throat ready to break down and cry at any part of the day. But like any story, there's light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how long it seems or how dark it gets, there is... Going into my freshman things

Could you see getting more out of life than what you had growing up? I couldn’t see it, I thought that this is what life had to offer. The smell of the factories, construction, and the air ports is what accented the city. Newark New Jersey had so much excitement and entertainment right in front of you. You didn’t have to go anywhere and that is what made growing up there memorable. My parents decided they were going to separate when I was six years old. My life had changed dramatically. Our stability was effected as well as separation from my father and most of all trying to understand and out the pieces together as a child .Growing up was developmental for me now as an adult I understand things from both side. Growing up a Jersey girl is what made me.

As a family of six I was raised on section 8, barely surviving on welfare. I shared beds and clothes with dreams of making it out of poverty, but with little guidance I was at risk of continuing this lifestyle for generations to come. My mother was always at work and my father was absent, which made me skip childhood and mature in order to become independent. I was never that child who had their mother sitting at the table telling them how to do their homework, but rather a child who stood on the table all day and night trying to teach myself. I knew from an early age that I wanted more in life than used clothes and a bike as transportation. I had the dream of attending college and becoming a doctor in philosophy.

As I take a look back on my life, I realize how great it has truly been. I had an absolutely amazing childhood and I am beyond blessed for it. I grew up in a home with two loving parents that have been with me through it all and now of days that is something to be truly thankful for. My parents taught me to strive to be anything that I wanted and that I could be anything that I set my mind to. These dreams changed throughout my life as I grew older and as I grew into the person that I am today.