Car Donation in Tennessee

Ashley is currently a senior and transferred to the Fort Worth Can! Academy 3 years ago after attending her first 4 months of her freshman year at Southwest High School in Fort Worth. She heard about Fort Worth Can! and decided to transfer because she wanted to graduate early. 

She has since worked closely with her teachers and advisors to complete all her credits and is on target to graduate in February 2011, which will be 1 year ahead of schedule.  

In conjunction with her high school courses, Ashley is enrolled and taking courses at Tarrant County Junior College, where she will complete her basic requirements and plans on transferring to a University to study Marriage Counseling. 

"Ashley has come full circle, she now feels like continuing her education which is very important to her and she has made huge strides" added Mrs. Lewis, Fort Worth Can! Academy Campus Drive Principal.

My story begins when my mom was 15-years-old. She was raped by my father and that is how I was conceived.

Soon after I was born my mom was diagnosed with postpartum depression.

When I was two weeks old I had trouble breathing and my mom found out I had a tumor in my throat. I had to have surgery to remove the tumor and then was sent home to recover. Not too long after I went home somehow when I was in my crib all my stiches in my neck ripped open. I am thankful my grandmother came to check in on my mother and I because when she did my mother was standing there watching me bleed out and not doing anything to stop it.

I believe my mother was so still so angry and resented me because I reminded her of her rape. My grandma ended up picking me up and holding my head to my body and getting me to the hospital in time.

This was my beginning.

When I was about 3-years-old my mom married my stepdad. They had my little sister and then my little brother.

From as early as I can remember my parents highly favored my siblings.

I remember one time we were back to school shopping at the flea market when I saw the coolest pair of high top Vans I had ever seen. They had checkers and so many bright colors. I had never seen shoes like that before. I picked them up and asked my stepdad if I could have them.

He looked me straight in my eyes and said no, yet he turned to my younger sister and said, “Would you like these shoes?”

It broke my heart so much because I could feel him using my excitement for the shoes against me. It was just another way to make me feel like I wasn’t as important as my brother and sister.

Drugs are another issue that plagues family for as long as I can remember. My mom’s pregnancy with my sister did not even stop her or my stepdad from consuming drugs day in and day out.

His drug of choice was heroin and my mother’s was meth.

The majority of my childhood was spent watching my parents do and sell drugs.

My stepdad became very violent and would beat on me and my mother on a regular basis.

I remember one time he threw my mother through our glass French doors. She landed on the back porch and in the process her two front teeth were knocked out. I saw all of this happen right in front of me. After her teeth were knocked out he would make fun of her all the time.

She became very depressed and tried killing herself in our bathroom. She locked the door and broke the mirror. She eventually let me in and I saw my mother bleeding from her wrists in our bathtub. Somehow my grandparents showed up and were able to get her help and she lived.

You might be thinking, ‘Where was Child Protective Services?”.

They were there actually. My family went through seven CPS cases while I was growing up.

It was basically hopeless though because my parents coached us on what to say to the CPS workers. They would threaten us with beatings if we didn’t say exactly what we were supposed to.

My parents also had us pee in their drug test cups so they wouldn’t be caught testing positive for drugs.

One time we were removed from our house and went to go live with my stepdad’s mother. She was mean herself and also resented me for not being her son’s child. Life with her was just about as difficult as life at home.

The violence between my mom and my stepdad came to a head one day when he showed up unexpectedly at our doorstep. He had been in jail and had gotten out and not told anyone.

He kidnapped my mother that day.

I called my grandparents and they came and got us kids and we went looking for them. Somehow, by the grace of God, we found them at an old motel on the Westside. My grandfather and uncle and the hotel manager broke down the door and we found my mother duct tapped to a chair. I remember the duct tape being so tight her skin was budging out. She was sweating and crying, but we couldn’t understand her because her mouth was duct tapped shut.

He was arrested and sent back to jail.

I wanted a better life, but things kept going downhill.

You see, all of this was happening while I was going to school or trying to go to school.

On the days I didn’t have to stay home and take care of my baby brother because my parents wouldn’t wake up, I would try attend school, but I always had to remember to cover up my bruises and be cautious to avoid questions from adults.

One day I ended up getting arrested and spend three weeks in juvenile detention. One day a school a girl who had been picking on me called me a bastard. See I didn’t know what that meant until a friend told me.

I became so angry. This girl knew my mother had been raped. I got into a physical fight with this girl and caused her to need a few stiches. I guess all my anger just came out that day because I had never been in a fight before.

I was later arrested and found guilty and sentenced to three weeks in a juvenile detention center. However, there was a good thing that came from this bad situation.

I told my entire story.

I told her everything, all the stories I just told you plus so many more I don’t have the time to tell today. This helped me get out of my parents’ house for good. This started the process of me being adopted by my grandparents.

In a way I am thankful for that experience because I was finally able to get help.

I went to two high schools before I found San Antonio CAN. I never felt like I fit it. When I was there I would miss my siblings and worry if they were okay. After the kidnapping incident my grandparents decided to legally adopt me.

I remember I was in class one time and shared with the class that I might be able to go to college since I was adopted I could get grants. The adult in the room asked me in front of the whole class, “Why are you being adopted? You/re parents don’t want you?”

It was like a punch in the gut.

Immediately after finding the Can Academies I didn’t feel lonely. For the first time, my teachers understood and helped me. They made me feel wanted. If it weren’t for them I don’t think I would be graduating. I finally found find the first place where I truly belonged.

My advisor Ms. Simmons and my English teacher Ms. Hatfield made me feel like they understood where I had been and that I was wanted.

If it weren’t for San Antonio CAN I don’t think I would be graduating from high school.

Now my life is different.

Although my mom will always be my mom and I can’t change the past, I can choose what I do moving forward.

My goals are to join the Army after high school and eventually earn a degree in education and come back to teach at the CAN. I want to help students like me find their purpose.

And as for me, I was adopted by my grandparents. My grandparents love me very much. I have a boyfriend who helped me get in my journey to get off meth and I found a great church that I consider a second home.

I am thankful for the Can, my grandparents, my boyfriend and my church. I am also thankful for those of you reading this today.

I found find the first place I felt I truly belonged, San Antonio Can.

I know now that I life of love, faith and hope to look forward to. Thank you for believing in me.

From high school dropout to high school graduate, Ignacio is now on his way to become a Certified Nursing Assistant.

“Growing up I didn’t really have much. My mom is a single mother of two, I haven't seen my dad in 10 years, but she always tried her best to support us. She worked any and every job she could, like picking tomatoes until she was 7 months pregnant, then moving to a tractor position because her belly was too big to bend down. She has also held construction jobs in downtown Dallas.”

“I was usually home alone so I started to go to my friends for a sense of security that’s why I decided to join a gang. I just started following in my brothers footsteps. I started smoking a lot and doing reckless things.”

After struggling at his previous high school and lacking the sense of support that he craved from the administration, Ignacio decided to drop out. He worked at Dairy Queen for a year and even got offered a managerial position.

“Then one day I realized I didn’t want to disappoint my mom anymore. I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life.”

“My mom came to this country as an immigrant and I wanted to show her that all her effort wasn't for nothing. That’s why I get up every day and try to do my best.”

So he followed in his brother’s footsteps again, this time for all the right reasons. His brother graduated from Texans Can Academies and his family recommended he do the same if he really wanted to turn his life around.

“Texans Can was my second chance. A second opportunity that you can’t take for granted. Although some people think of this school as a school for all the mess ups, it’s not. The people here are helping us get somewhere, to be someone in life. I’m not afraid to say that I’m from Texans Can.”

“The teachers and advisors here do the most to make sure I’m making the right choices.”

“My advisor Mrs. Randle would text me if I was late to school and even ask if I needed a ride. She’s always there for me trying to get me to school. Especially when I had surgery a month ago and I would be late because I had to go to therapy. She would tell me to go to the PM shift if I couldn't make it that morning.”

“My teacher Mr. Vasquez, even calls me his son. Another advisor Mrs. Machuca offered me two jobs and took me on college visits.”

“They’ve made such a big difference in my life and are always looking out for you. They’re the reason I come to school every day.”

Ignacio has always had a keen sense of ambition. He always knew what he wanted. When he found out about the CNA program offered at the Can Academies, he was eager to get his life back on track, to finally make his mom proud.

“My whole life I’ve always been a little science nerd. It came so naturally to me.”

“When I enrolled here I was actually too late to get in the anatomy class. So I just started reading on my own, about body systems and how they function. It never ceases to amaze me how such an intricate system works together to make up who we are. I’ve always wanted to work in the medical field.”

Ignacio will take his CNA certification in the spring and will be a first-generation college.

“I want to use the CNA program as a step towards my future career, as a foundation to my future. I just really like caring for people. I always think of others before myself.”

“I’m not proud of who I was before, but it’s brought me where I am today. I honestly would’ve never graduated high school if it wasn’t for the Can Academies.”

“I was making good money at DQ or thought I was. It was enough to get me by. I just never had anyone guide me to get to higher places. I’ve always had goals, but never knew how to achieve them.”

“The people here actually help me, they actually care about my life and where I go afterwards. I’ve never had that before.”

Joshua was born and raised in New Orleans. Shortly after his father died, Hurricane Katrina further devastated the family. Joshua fled from his housing project as the water rose, fearing the worst because he cannot swim. He sought refuge in his sister’s third-floor apartment; his mother went to the Superdome. As was the case with many, evacuation from New Orleans split his family. Joshua and two sisters landed in Austin and it was 4 months before he knew the whereabouts of his mother. For 5 months he lived at the Austin Convention Center. During this time, he attended two different high schools. The school bus did not pick up at the convention center and without transportation, it was difficult for him to attend school across town, so he was expelled from both schools for lack of attendance. The second expulsion came after he went back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in New Orleans despite a principal’s warning not to miss any more classes. “I just wanted to see my family. After we were split up, it was the first chance to all be together,” explained Joshua. The school tried to refer him to a GED program. “I’d come too close to graduating to get a GED. I wanted my diploma,” Joshua insisted. Luckily Joshua spotted an Austin Can! Academy billboard. He decided to check out the school and started attending last April. “I feel comfortable here. I can focus on my education.” Josh attributes his success at the academy to the small class sizes and the support from teachers. “I feel inspired to learn. Teachers work with you and you get that extra attention that you do not get at a big high school,” he added. Life in Austin has improved for Joshua. He and his girlfriend share an apartment and they have a new son. Motivated by fatherhood, Joshua has high hopes for his future. He’ll be graduating in January and looks forward to enrolling in Austin Community College’s nursing program to become a registered nurse. “I always took care of my dad when he was sick. I like to help people,” he said. When asked about Joshua, principal Charles Long noted, “Joshua is what Austin Can! is all about. He’s a kid who has had to overcome many obstacles, and we helped him succeed. He is a great example for others.”

My home life was a wreck. I never knew a time in my childhood that I didn’t see my mother drinking or having different men at my home after my parents divorced.

I was so young that I felt that I may have been the cause of the split.

Later, I was thrown out of my mother’s house when I was in the 6th grade. I felt horrible about leaving my younger sister behind, but I was just a child myself and went to live with my dad.

My father had to drop out of college to support me.

Overtime, anger issues began to plague my life. I would become frustrated which often times led to getting in trouble both at school and in the community. I was a stubborn student and did not have a true sense of purpose.

After only a month of being a freshman, I dropped out of school for a year. Somehow I found San Antonio Can High School. Later I would come to realize it must have been my fate to land at San Antonio Can, especially being that I can’t remember how I heard about it in the first place.

My first days at San Antonio Can were filled with anger and resentment towards life itself. I did not understand why we did Marquez Reading or FIE let alone why school was so important.

On my 18th birthday my birthday present to myself was to leave high school for good. So I did.

I spent the next year at home, playing video games, smoking marijuana, and not being productive. I wasn’t going to school and I wasn’t working. However, that being said, something good did come from this bad if you will.

During this time I started to become self-aware. I started to realize that I was fighting a battle with my alter ego.

See, part of me didn’t care if I finished school and didn’t see the point in graduating. Yet another part of me wanted to BE someone, wanted to DO something with my life. I wanted to accomplish things and have purpose in life.

After about one year of this, I decided the only way I was going to get there was by finishing high school. That was going to be the first step in my journey to success and living a life with real value and true purpose.

This year, I returned to San Antonio Can with hope, but couldn’t get past my bad behavior. Until Mr. Tribett, the principal, and Ms. Franklin, my advisor gave me an intervention. I was able to not only hear their side, but also take it into full consideration. I was able to reflect on this and better understand my own position in life and where I wanted to go.

Mr. Tribett was the only person that believed I could change. I thank him for giving me that chance.

The next school day the renaissance began, this rebirth was enlightening. To this day I am forever grateful. It didn’t take too long before the staff and faculty of San Antonio Can High School started to witness the change in me.

Since my return I’ve experienced things I never would have imagined. For example attending the Broadway Musical Jersey Boys, participating in Learning from Leaders, Job Shadow San Antonio, and becoming actively engaged in student activities.

Along with all the support the school provides, such as eye glasses, immunizations, mental health services, and a great college readiness program at no-cost to me, I know I will be ready for what’s next. I’ll be able to walk through the doors that lead to the next set of challenges and accomplishments in my life through education.

After graduating from San Antonio Can High School I plan on obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and returning to Texas Can Academies to teach. I believe that the mission and vision of our CEO, Richard Marquez and Chief of Schools, Dr. James Ponce, can reach even more students across our great state, and I’m proud to be a part of this movement.