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Kendra Evans
“I was in a relationship that was no good for me.”
Kendra Evans, 19, dropped out of George Washington HS when she was a 16-year-old 10th grade. She is now taking classes at Center For Literacy to prepare her for the Gateway to College program. She wrote this essay with the help of her teacher there, Cortney Bruno.
The reason I left school is because I didn’t want to be around people that were younger than me, and I didn’t want to be in the overcrowded classes. So one day I just left and never came back.
See, I’m going to take you back a little in my life, when I was going to George Washington High School. I was in a relationship with a guy that was no good for me. Everyone in my family hated him with a passion. The main reason was, he didn’t have my best interest at heart. All he thought about was himself. He didn’t care that I stopped going to school and that I was always home not doing anything, just lying around with him. I honestly believe that he liked it that way. I just sat around getting fat and lazy. Until I met my best friend Sabria.
I was just sitting around one day when a mutual friend came past and introduced me to Sabria. From that day forward, we haven’t been away from each other. We started to get to know each other for the better and the worst. She didn’t understand why I stopped going to school, and at the time she was taking GED classes at Temple [which she finished last month and I’m so proud of her].
I wanted to get myself together so I started going to [Twilight school] at Gratz High School, which didn’t last long. So one day Sabria called me and said her Nana saw on the Internet about a program called Gateway to College and she signed me up for it. I told my mother about what she did, and my mom wanted me to go for it. What harm could it do? So I went and passed the first test. Then when it came down to the second test I didn’t do so well. To make a long story short, I didn’t get in but I did get a call saying I could take classes so that when I applied again it would be a better chance at me getting in.
Now that I have been going to this program for a month and a half, I do feel like I am benefiting from being here. My instructor takes the time out to find out what I need help with and if I am understanding what I am doing. I honestly believe that leaving high school was one of the best things I've done in my life because if I never left school I would have never gotten the chance to come to know about these programs. So I believe that I have made a positive turnaround in my life.