That’s when things started going wrong for us. We started moving from home to home and I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Then my attitude went from positive to negative. I began to change so much that I was making my mom cry, telling her very hurtful things. I never felt like I was in the wrong until we found out that she was suffering with stage four colon cancer. At that point I did not understand because I was young so it didn’t affect me, but as I grew older and things started getting worse I stopped going to school because she was in and out of the hospital having surgery. I started realizing how much she really loved me and that I was making poor decisions.

By the time I was fifteen, my mother’s cancer spread to her lungs. I thought things couldn’t get any worse. But then my grandfather died. He was like a father to me so it was hard for me to lose him. I never got to say goodbye. It felt like everything that was going wrong in my life was my fault. I really felt guilty when they told my mom she had two months to live. When those two months went by, I knew I had a miracle mom. That’s also when my mom told me about PACE.

I was ready to come to PACE because I knew that was my only chance to leave my past behind and start a better future for myself. After enrolling in PACE, I started working on my attitude. I have learned that I’m a better person inside and out since I started going to PACE. I started making better choices for myself and my attitude has become a lot more positive which helps me love myself and others.

Now my future goals are to be a famous magazine model and a clothing designer, but first I want to go to college. When I leave PACE I want to start a brand new life for myself.

INVEST IN THE FUTURE by Bruyana

I am beautiful because of who I am

I am beautiful because I say I am

I am becoming the woman I want to be

So I'll smile inside and out, and let the whole world see

I'll always find peace inside and out

I'm loved, I'm wise, I'm strong and that's without a doubt

Sometimes I feel like I'm on top of the world

Investing in the future; what should I say

I learn from PACE each and every day

From Spirited Girls, social studies, science, reading and math

PACE showed me a way to a greater path

I describe the best so I can be what I want to be

Only because PACE believes in me