Car for Kids Turning Junk Into Joy for Kids

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.

“If I never came to Texans Can, I would have been dead,” said Trinity, senior at Texans Can Academies. “The path I was on before I came here was… I know I wouldn’t have seen the age of 18.”

Trinity is from a single-mother home with seven brothers—all from different dads.

Life slowly began to wear her down with recurring familial issues and health problems. She soon realized she didn’t have enough credits to graduate.

The world became too much to handle, so she dropped out.

“Life was a pain for me. Society dragged me down, especially at my old school. All the he-said-she-said drama, and the school system there didn’t work for me,” said Trinity. “Teachers didn’t care; they just wanted you in and out. The way my mindset was back then, I couldn’t take all of the negativity at once.”

But despite all her distress, it didn’t take long for Trinity to decide that she needed to enroll back in school.

“My little brothers motivated me to keep going. I didn’t want them to think ‘oh, my sister didn’t graduate, so I don’t have to.’ I don't want them to follow in my footsteps. I needed to be better for them.”

“I’m the only girl—the oldest too—so I have to set a good example and be the first to go to college. I want to show them there is good in life. I learned that at Texans Can.”

Trinity noticed a huge difference in the school’s approach as soon as she started.

“Teachers at my old school had no faith in me. But at Texans Can Academy, they pushed me to do better not just in school, but in life,” she said. “Here it’s smaller; it’s different. There are shorter classes, and teachers actually sit with you and make sure you learn. It’s a good school where you can get the extra help you need. It’s where other schools fail.”

Life finally didn’t feel like a burden to her anymore. Trinity was learning to thrive.

“My advisor, Mr. Armendarez, basically became my second dad because he’s like a parent at school that I don’t even have at home,” Trinity said. “He’s made a big difference in my life. When I first got here I didn’t like it. There were uniforms, it was strict, and I didn’t appreciate authority—but Mr. A never gave up on me.”

Having an advisor while attending school has made a huge impact on Trinity.

“He [Mr. Armendarez] would say, ‘I believe you can do this. Forget what everyone else says. You can do anything as long as you set your mind to it.’ If it wasn’t for him I don’t know where I would be.”

“Having someone encourage me is something I never usually hear,” said Trinity. “It made me realize I could make it in life.”

When asked about referring Texans Can to other students who are struggling in school, Trinity did not hesitate.

“I definitely recommend Texans Can to anybody, especially if you want to graduate early and get your career started. They have colleges come here—before you even graduate they make you do FAFSA and apply for colleges.”

“Texans Can pushes you that extra step to make sure you have a plan after graduation versus in regular high school they say: ‘alright you graduated. Good luck. You’re on your own.’”

With graduation around the corner, Trinity is ready to embark on a new journey while making a difference.

“I want to major in social work, do criminal justice, then work in a detention center. I know I have a troubled past, so I want to help kids get through that too.”

“Texans Can was my only option after I dropped out,” she said. “It was the best decision I ever made.”

There was a time when Ana didn’t have much hope for what her future might hold. Her days were filled with severe bouts of depression, sadness and even thoughts of suicide.

Today, Ana is a new mom, wife and a young woman who sees a positive outlook for herself and her family’s future. She credits Houston Can! Academy Hobby campus for helping change her life and providing the foundation she needed to pursue her dream of becoming a registered nurse. “When I was going to South Houston High School, I was always fighting, hanging out with the wrong crowd and not going to class,” said Ana. “I knew if I stayed there I wasn’t going to be able graduate so I could better my life.” Ana, like many at-risk students who attend Houston Can! Academy, just needed an educational environment to give them the hope to become somebody extraordinary despite the challenges they have faced in their life. “I came here three years ago in the middle of tenth grade,” she explained. “The environment has been really good. There haven’t been any fights and the teachers really care and take time. My favorite classes were reading and parenting, which was very helpful, especially since I was about to have a baby and I learned a lot.” Ana found teacher expectations to be high, but that they were always there for support. “I failed the TAKS once the science part, but I passed all the other subjects on the first try,” she said. “The teachers gave us a lot of extensive tutoring for the test which helped. If you want to come here and take care of your business, you can definitely do it here.” Part of the first graduating class of 2008, Ana didn’t wait to get her diploma before starting to take a few nursing classes at San Jacinto College. She says she is up for the challenge of finishing the four year program while juggling school, work and motherhood duties for her son, Julio Jr. “My sister died of AIDS and I wanted to be a Doctor, but that was going to take too long, explained Ana. “I still wanted to be in the medical field so that I can help others, and nursing is a good way to make a difference.”

Amanda, 2003 Dallas Can! Academy graduate, realized after graduation that she’d learned more than she expected. Not only did she learn mathematical equations, English literature and scientific practices, she learned that determination was the key to overcoming obstacles. Amanda enrolled at Dallas Can! Not because she was having difficulty with her schoolwork, but because she liked the flexible schedule and accelerated classes. “I wanted to get on with my life and go to college so I could get the job I want instead of settling for minimum wage,” Amanda said. “I had heard good things about Dallas Can! And decided this was the school for me.” Amanda worked towards her graduation day. She enjoyed the staff and the facilities so much that she recommended the school to her boyfriend, Hector, who attended and graduated in 2002. “When I was sick, she , would call me up to find out what was wrong and how she could help,” Amanda said. “My other schools didn’t care enough to do that. They wouldn’t make time for me.” After graduating, she put her newly learned knowledge to use. She used classroom handouts from a job training skills class that she had kept to help guide her through the interviewing process. Those handouts helped her get her first post-graduation job as an officer with a security company. She worked at the security company during the summer while waiting for the beginning of the fall semester at Mountain View College. Amanda had earned a Rising Star scholarship that would pay for the first semester of school. However, a series of neighborhood incidents hampered her going to college right away. ‘There were some really nasty people in my neighborhood who were going around slashing tires and damaging cars,” she said. “All the tires on my car were slashed the day before I started school. When I explained that to the college, they told me that they couldn’t extend the scholarship. So I have to wait to go back to college.” But she hasn’t given up the dream of furthering her education. Amanda plans on returning to Mountain View College within the next year, paying for it herself, to complete the few credits she needs to transfer to Cedar Valley College. Once there she can finish her training and become a veterinary technician. In the meantime, Amanda was hired on at FOX-4 News as a full-time receptionist due to her determination and positive people skills. “The security company I worked for was a sub-contractor to FOX-4,” she said. “The office manager there liked me so much, he hired me to take over as the receptionist.” Ms. Scott said she will always remember Amanda. “She encouraged me to continue to do what I do by her kind words and how she always told me how much I meant to her and how I touched her life. She was never afraid to let people know how much they helped her and how much she appreciated that support,” said Ms. Scott. “Her kindness was much appreciated.” “When I went on my job interview, I kept reviewing the flyers that I had been given at school that told me what to do in an interview,” she said.

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.