“I lost my mother ten years ago. She raised me and my brother in a single-family home. My mother worked for AT&T from 5:30am to 5pm, and slept on the weekends. When crime rates in our neighborhood was rising, my mother made me do my homework and stay out of trouble. I finished high school at fifteen years old, but my mother wouldn’t let me graduate. I took gym and vocational classes to stay in school. I was a C-average student, focusing my time on sports. My high school track team once qualified for state championships, but one of the relay runners fell sick and could not compete. To get the open spot, I had to race another teammate. As I was stretching before the race, I saw my mother in the stands. She could barely come to my meets at the time, but she took off of work early that day to watch me run. My mother told me to focus and that I had the opportunity to do something. However, she was gone as I finished the race. When I saw her at home later, I asked her why she came but left early. She said that I needed to know that she was with me as I ran, even if she didn’t get to see me finish. If it wasn’t for sports and my mother, I probably would have been a pregnant teen on welfare.”

(Queens, New York)