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My name is Lenore Smith I am 18 years old
and I attend Ballou Senior High School.
Most teachers here really do care about these students
and they try to come and help us make a difference from the stereotypes.
They try to grab even the kids who don’t want to be grabbed
and don’t want to be helped and want to live out the stereotype
and the things people say about the school.
When you come to Ballou it’s a good support system
if you actually reach out to those people who are willing to help you.
Most successful students in Ballou,
they try to make a purpose out of every time they come-
do their work and try not to get into any trouble.
The more positive you are in school the more successful you will be;
because it’s easy to get knocked off focus in this school
because there is so much distraction everywhere.
I grew up faster a long time ago.
I kind of feel independent especially now that I have an internship, a paid internship.
But I’ve been feeling kinda independent for a while,
I started catching the train in the 2nd grade,
so I try to do a lot on my own,
JAG is Jobs for Americas Graduates –
it’s a program that prepares you for once you graduate
and the career world things are pretty different once you leave school
so it helps you how to be prepared,
how to act, what to do, what not to do, what to look forward to,
what programs should you get involved with, and how to network.
When you come to school they teach you things as far as education,
like reading and math, but JAG actually helps you
with the things you're going to have to use
those skills in another way once you leave;
how to work with people, how to cooperate with others,
how to be a team member, how to be a leader.
I actually went on a JAG leadership conference where I saw a lot of things different.
Everybody was there and they had a purpose.
So when you go there you see people just like you.
When you go places and you see that
this person isn’t anything different from me, so I can do this too.
Or this person used to be me and now look at them.
I think it can open up some students and save students that really don’t think
they can do things farther than where they already are.
I actually do have friends who dropped out of school --- or you know not dropped out
but they started with me and then I don’t see them anymore.
I talk to one of my friends and I let her know that she's really smart and she can do it.
She just have a lot of things going on and other people have a lot of things
going on at home and they tend to give up.
You can’t really push that many people to do things that they don’t want to do.
If they don’t want to do it, it’s really hard to reach out to them.
But it’s good to have people who can tell you I believe in you, I think you can do it.
I'm most proud that I am myself and I am not a follower –
and I actually want to be something.
I’m just looking forward to walking across the stage and getting my diploma.
I’m going to be proud of myself and actually happy that I made it that far.