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.

To start out I'll explain where I'm coming from. I was born in Arkansas on May 1992, and spent the next 9 years of my life moving from state to state and many towns in between.

 I was fairly wealthy, my father worked for Wal-Mart Distribution Centers all over America. We had vacations often and all the newest and nicest stuff you could ask for. I moved from North Carolina to Texas in 2001. Again, in Texas, I moved from town to town and finally landing in Denton county. Here I actually had a stable home for a few years until December 2004 and odd event came about. I was home alone watching my afternoon cartoons when some strange people knocked on my back door and asked for my dad. Little did I know that they were there to take him to jail. My father, unbeknown to me, was a local drug dealer. Of course I wasn't oblivious but I had no clue to the seriousness of his actions. They arrested him for possession, intent to sell, and oh yeah, having a methamphetamine lab in our garage. He went to prison, I went to live with other family for a few years.

 He got out of prison in late 2006. By that time I was living with my mom again, not in the best of conditions. This proceeded on for a while. My father got busted a few more times. So obviously this reflected at the school I attended. I went to Azle High School from 2005-2009. I was nothing but trouble. I was fighting often and in and out of A.E.P. and other in school suspension programs. I was selling drugs here and there, and doing twice as much. I saw a lot of my friends go down the same road my dad did. I saw me going gown that road. This made me reflect a lot seeing as I had been through hell compared to where I grew up. I didn't want this for my kids, or anyone else's kids for that matter. In 2009 we were evicted from our house and decided to start a new again in a different town, River Oaks.

 I was still technically a freshman so going back to school seemed out of the picture until I realized the Can Academy was only 2miles from my house. I found out I could really start over here. I began attending in late August of 2009 and now I'm only 6 days away from graduating. I was more motivated to graduate here that I was to do anything else in my life. I walked those two miles back and forth everyday, and in this term, I've finished seven classes, five of which I completed in four weeks. This school gave me an opportunity that has indefinitely decided the course of the rest of my life. I have now quit drugs, stopped smoking cigarettes, and improved many aspects of my life I can credit the school for helping me with.

 I'm not perfect, but I realize now that I can do absolutely anything I want with my life. Aiming to be president seems to small a goal to me now. And in 6 days it all begins. Thank you, Can Academy

Sean Fulayter’s story is both humbling and inspiring. Sean comes to us from Michigan after overcoming unbelievable obstacles. He was born in Flint, Michigan on July 21, 1993 and is 17 years-old. Sean’s parents split before he was born and he never knew his father. He lived with his mother and grandmother for most of his childhood. At the age of six, his mother got remarried to a man in the U.S. Navy who was both mentally and physically abusive to his family. Sean’s mother suffered from mental illness and after the birth of Sean’s second sibling she also began using hard drugs to escape the abuse. At the age of 11 Sean began taking care of both siblings. One was a newborn infant and the other a toddler. He cooked meals for them and made sure they had everything they needed. Because of this responsibility, Sean missed many days of school but somehow managed to keep very good grades.

Sean moved back and forth between his mother’s house and his grandmother’s house most of his childhood because of family problems. He says, “I never really had a home to call my own.” At the age of 13 Sean was kicked out of his mother’s house and lived on the streets for 30 days. He slept near generators behind a store to keep warm during the cold Michigan winter and got food wherever he could.

Cold, hungry and weak, Sean walked into the city library and ‘Googled’ his father, whom he had never met. He found the address and walked 14 miles with two bags of his belongings to his father’s home. He lived there for a few months before living with his father became unbearable.

Sean went back to his grandmother’s house. When he was 15 his uncle invited Sean to visit him in Austin, Texas. Coming from a family with generations of gang activity, Sean wanted to make a better life for himself and his siblings, whom he dearly loved. When he learned a friend was killed by a rival gang in Flint, Sean was advised by his friends to not come back to Michigan.

Sean then moved to San Antonio to live with another uncle. “My uncle took me in as his own son and he is the only father figure I’ve ever known. He taught me how to respect women, how to protect myself and how to talk to people. He taught me everything about life”, said Sean. Living with his Uncle Steven, Sean enrolled in a Southside San Antonio public high school as a freshman and started making bad grades, skipping school and even getting involved in fights.

After his freshman year he heard about San Antonio Can! High School from a friend. His Aunt brought him to the Can! for orientation and helped pave his future. Sean was 16 when he started at the Can! as a sophomore. Since enrolling Sean attends school full-time while working two jobs; one in landscaping and one at a restaurant. He even attended summer school to gain credits faster. Sean says, “The Can! has helped me more than anything. I can’t explain how much.”

He realized his dream to join the U.S. Army when he was sworn in September 24, 2010. Sean hopes to make a career in the Army as combat medic. Sean attends a church youth group meeting every Tuesday where he says “we pray for our families and pray for forgiveness.”

Despite enormous obstacles and unconscionable circumstances Sean will graduate from San Antonio Can! High School on January 21, 2011. He hopes to soon be able to adopt his siblings and do for them what his Uncle Steve did for him. Sean thanks his Uncle Steve and Aunt Sue Ann for treating him like a son and saving his life. 

“My uncle took me in as his own son and he is the only father figure I’ve ever known. He taught me how to respect women, how to protect myself and how to talk to people. He taught me everything about life”, said Sean. Living with his Uncle Steven, Sean enrolled in a Southside San Antonio public high school as a freshman and started making bad grades, skipping school and even getting involved in fights. After his freshman year he heard about San Antonio Can! High School from a friend. His Aunt brought him to the Can! for orientation and helped pave his future. Sean was 16 when he started at the Can! as a sophomore. Since enrolling Sean attends school full-time while working two jobs; one in landscaping and one at a restaurant. He even attended summer school to gain credits faster. Sean says, “The Can! has helped me more than anything. I can’t explain how much.” He realized his dream to join the U.S. Army when he was sworn in September 24, 2010. Sean hopes to make a career in the Army as combat medic. Sean attends a church youth group meeting every Tuesday where he says “we pray for our families and pray for forgiveness. Despite enormous obstacles and unconscionable circumstances Sean will graduate from San Antonio Can! High School on January 21, 2011. He hopes to soon be able to adopt his siblings and do for them what his Uncle Steve did for him. Sean thanks his Uncle Steve and Aunt Sue Ann for treating him like a son and saving his life.

I dropped out for a while but finally enrolled in Austin Can! Academy. It was a big change to have smaller classes and uniform but when I am in the classroom the teachers actually teach! If you do not understand something, they take the time to explain things and encourage me to go to tutoring. 

In the past, I never knew what I scored on TAKS but since I’ve been at Austin Can! my math score has increased a lot and my score has gone up 200 scale points. I never took my academics seriously in the past, but the staff helped me to believe in myself! I will be graduating this June and then will attend college.

Imagine growing up not knowing where you would get your next meal from or where you would be able to sleep safely each night. It’s unimaginable for most of us. But it was reality for Hillary.

At the age of two-years-old, Hillary was taken from her mom and placed into Child Protective Services and was transferred from foster home to foster home.

Today, she’s 19-years-old and on her way to graduation with her 9-month-old baby girl.

“It’s been hard for me going from shelter to shelter and in and out of foster care. When I finally thought things were getting normal, people want to adopt me and then they don’t. It’s hard on you.”

Hillary was always in search of her ‘forever home,’ but when you are forced to live with strangers, you never know what each day has in store.

“I finally gave up on trying to get adopted and just stuck with being in foster care. I accepted the fact that I would be there until I was 18. So I ran away, like every other teenager does.”

The lack of control that comes from being a foster child caused continual insecurity for Hillary. She believed it was normal for a teenager to run away from home.

After running away, the endless battle for stability continued; she became pregnant.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to take care of the baby, but I didn’t want to end up like my mom and lose my daughter. At that point I didn't think I was going to finish school either, but then at the shelter where I was living, I was told about Texans Can.. I was finally determined to do better and be better. I didn’t want my daughter growing up thinking it’s okay to not finish high school because her mom dropped out. I want her to think ‘my mom did it, I can do it too.’

“On my first day at the school, I thought it was all good vibes. I was welcomed by the advisors, the principal, and some of the teachers, too. I was really happy. I went from ‘I don’t know if I want to do this’ to ‘I think this is going to be a good experience.’

It was life changing because a lot of kids drop out of regular high schools and they don’t come back.

Texans Can was actually like a home when I was there. I had classes with most of the teachers there. And they truly want to see everyone graduate and do something with their lives.

The learning processes are even a lot different from other schools. Marquez Reading helps us listen and understand material. A lot of the kids begin here and don’t know how to read, but with Marquez Reading we are able to learn. It also helps us bond with each other and the teachers.

I use those skills all the time now, including those listening skills. Other schools are loud and people are always skipping class. At Texans Can people check up on you and make sure you’re okay. The classrooms are also a lot quieter and you don’t get distracted.

When you walk in there’s always someone there to greet you. It’s very different, a good different.

Being here has changed me a lot.

I know if I was with my mom today, I wouldn’t be the person I am. I would probably be out in the streets doing some horrible things.”

Today, with her 9-month-old daughter clinging to her side, she will walk across the stage at graduation. Hillary is determined to change the cycle she grew up with, and in doing so, changing the future for her daughter as well.

“Right now I’m still living in the placement I am in for the next couple of weeks. I plan on moving to Fort Worth, getting my own apartment, and taking classes online. In the future, I want to become a therapist or counselor at a shelter so I can help other people get through life.”

Hillary has learned to motivate herself with the desire to help others despite her hardships because of the help that Texans Can Academies gave her.

“I want to tell everyone, don’t quit. Quitting is not worth it. This school helps a lot. I came here not caring, but I’m leaving here caring so much.

A lot of people think Texans Can is going to be like every other school, but I can guarantee you it’s not like any other school. They’ll actually push you and motivate you to do better so you can be someone in life.”