My whole life was a struggle. Having to deal with living with family memember, then a shelter,then back to living with family. Now my mother and I finally have an apartment of our own. I have an older brother who has been in and out of jail since he was 13, now he is 19 and still in there. My older sister dropped out of middle school and had my niece. Now she is trying to get her GED. My mother also dropped out of high school because she got pregnant with my sister and got her GED. My "father" denined being my father when I was int the 4th grade, eventhough of his 6 children, I look the most like him. I don't get anything for my birthday from my "father" because he doesn't care, an nothing from my mother because she can afford it. Right now I am in my senoir year in high school, 17 years old, goin to church, looking for a job,and the captain of the cheerleading squad. No one cannot tell me that I'm not going to make it out of this world being somebody and making a difference. I AM going to graduate from high school in May and I will be going to college, the first in my family. So, I am crying out to you to let you know that evryone has to struggle for success and you did it even with the things that you are going throug with your mother. Now I really look up to you and I believe that I can do it also!!

~Thank You
LaSharia M. Smith