I Am by Nadia Frausto

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by Ernest Sandoval

9

I Am

by Nadia Frausto

I am from my mom who chose drugs over me and my brother and from my father who spent most of my childhood in and out of jail due to gangs and drugs I am from a small town called Tulare where drugs are the normal thing to see where violence is an every day thing I am from a place where some people don’t make it to the next day because of drug overdoses or violence but I am living proof that’s not for everyone

I am from a place most people consider the ghetto I am from a place most people look down at you and say you can’t do it and will end up like the rest Most don’t make it to high school and drop out if they do and don’t even get to see college as an opportunity I am from a place where people hustle and do whatever to make money to support their families I am from everyone in that town who is either in child services or welfare I am from a place where they sell drugs or go into prostitution just to make ends meet Where I am from people really don’t succeed but I am living proof that’s wrong

I am from a mother who chose to abandon her kids to live her own life I am a girl who was sexually physically and mentally abused I am the girl that the teachers told my grandparents who later adopted me and became my mom and dad that I was never going to make it through high school I was going to end up like my biological parents getting pregnant doing drugs and repeating the same scenario but I am living proof that’s not true

Even though my life is not as perfect as I wanted it to be those things I went through as a kid shaped me into the person I am most people use their life situations for good or for bad but I used the situation I went through as a kid to keep moving forward and I proved those elementary teachers wrong I did graduate high school and went to college oh yeah and this girl also has a learning disability but I am living proof that it won’t stop me

if I keep pushing forward trusting God and follow my dreams I can be anything I want if I put my mind into it and I want to share my story to people who had my situation or even worse to just show them that they can turn the bad situation into a positive I am that girl who is now in college and halfway through her dream of becoming a special education teacher Kaleidoscope