Car Donation in Idaho

The impact Eddie’s mentor made on him stays with him to this day. Now, seven years after graduation, Eddie is an award-winning store manager for AT&T, a company he has stayed with since he graduated. He has traveled abroad, and he has purchased his second home. Because of his experiences at school and help from Texans Can - Cars for Kids and the success he has known since, he wants to give back, being a mentor to young men who, like him, have had to go without the love and guidance of a father.

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.”

La’Phadra moved to Houston in October from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was behind in school because her family moved around alot. She said she attended a lot of different schools and didn’t learn as much as she should have. 

Houston Can! is a lot different than her very large school in Tulsa. She has really liked the small classes and one-on-one relationships with the teachers and advisors. She is also glad to not be in a school where there were fights and arguments among the students. She said she never sees that at Houston Can! 

She is the oldest sibling and has six sisters and one brother. One of her sisters is enrolled at Houston Can! as well. La’Phadra graduated in June and said it is a big help that the Can! helped her catch up so quickly with her class credits and graduate on time. She can help her mother with her brother and sisters. 

La’Phadra wants to enroll at Houston Community College (HCC) and study to be a police officer but is also interested in forensic science. Her plan is to transfer to a four-year university after HCC. Her favorite class was world geography. 

La’Phadra got engaged at prom to her boyfriend who is also a student at Houston Can! Her boyfriend is enlisting in the service so they will be apart for several weeks when he leaves this summer for basic training. They both think it is a good idea to wait and get married after his basic training because they have never been apart and think they should see how this separation goes for each of them.

August 24, 2010 I moved to Houston with my family from Honduras when I was 8 years old. I have always worked hard in school and dreamed of going to college one day to obtain a degree in Business Management. I attended Cornelius Elementary School and Ortiz Middle School. After completing my 9th grade year at Chavez High School, I realized that in order for me to fulfill my dream, be a role model for my younger brother and cousins, and the first in my family to graduate from college, I needed to walk an extra mile. 

With that in mind, I decided to enroll in Houston Can! Academy Hobby campus. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Houston Can! Academy has many academic programs to help students such as my self be successful. They offer small settings, which is what I need to help me reach my goal of early graduation and fulfill my dream of going to college. I am so proud of Houston Can! Academy which is an excellent school for students with goals and I plan to graduate with commended performance. Respectfully, Jairo

My name is Kaya and I am a Texans Can Academy alumna.

Originally from a rough Chicago neighborhood, Kaya was frequently in fights.

“That was the only way I knew how to deal with things,” she says. “It was important to show others in the neighborhood I could protect myself.”

Despite a move to Arlington that brought positive change to her family, Kaya still fought at school and skipped classes. She reached out to teachers and advisors for help, but they seemed either busy, or like they didn’t know how.

In December 2017, Kaya was involved in another fight at school. This time, she was arrested. She calls the experience “eye-opening.”

“I can do better than this,” she decided.

After the arrest, with public school no longer an option for her, Kaya learned of Texans Can and enrolled at the Carrollton/Farmers Branch campus.

“It was so different,” Kaya says. “Other students were positive. Everyone had a story and a mission they are trying to accomplish for their lives. The teachers and advisors were supportive and showed me that I was welcomed and cared for.”

During her time at the Can, Kaya never missed a class. She joined their championship-winning golf team, on which she served as captain; went from failing to straight A’s; passed the SAT with a score of 1270—which is above average—and applied to over thirty colleges.

Kaya is also a recipient of the Ann and Nate Levine Scholarship, which she will apply to her college education.

“My plan is to join the reserves and then go to college directly after boot camp,” she says. “I want to study psychology and form a career around helping girls like myself who are in difficult situations.”

Kaya graduated from Texans Can – Dallas in 2019.