My LALA, My Life

Andy Jacobo
Mr. Steed
May 20, 2016

In the United States of America it has shown that the more education and school
activity was brought upon our students the less gang members and dropout rates were showing

up on our statistics for ours country's youth and involvement in their education. Growing up with
less than what others have is a very delicate situation and ultimately leads to less of an education
than what others receive because we can't afford the essentials needed to further our education.
With having our schools adding on a little more of their resources and time to our own personal
lives and giving us that extra tool we may need, might just be the key to unlock the door to our
path to success. A student may need essential and yet simple tools to keep up with their studies or
their homework and without it they create a lot of free time for themselves, which ultimately lead
to them hanging out with the wrong influences that may just bring them to a place they would
not want to be in and will lead them to nothing. If a student in need is given a laptop for
example, that might just be the tool so that they can continue on with online work and then when
done with all of their studying and homework can stay in and watch some movies or play some
games instead of being out on these cold streets up to no good.
Since 1996 according to the National Gang Center our youths gang addition was at a 50%
percent with the gang members being 18 years old or younger, that is half of our youth wasting
their precious knowledge on these cold streets instead of attending our educational facilities.
With schools now offering after school programs for our kids to be at studying or hanging out,
since 2011 our youth gang involvement dropped down to 32% and is growing more every year
with newer programs that are being implemented throughout the community and schools offering
them. Their is an amazing program named Junior Youth Club or short for JYC that offers a place
for our youth to socialize and gather up to plan community service events to help out everyone as
much as we can but also unite different races to overcome racial tensions and show that we are
all here as one. Our youth would never know about these programs until our schools gave a
helping hand to those programs giving us students a helping hand, this gave a place to reside at

when things at home may not be so good or we may not have the essentials in order to complete
our task for school. All of these programs that are being started and that are bringing our students
together to unite as one, are thanks to the school and its giving us students many connections to
the get the help we need. Their was another program named YPI which was helping our students
get free wifi for up to 2 years if they couldnt afford it, this gives our kids the motivation to keep
up with the school work they are doing and that help is still always available to them.
Going through high school is an even more difficult time because this is where kids will
really get to find themselves and know who exactly they are, some kids make it out just fine but
other kids need a lot of support due to things that may be happening at home or around their
social life. According to the American Psychological Association, since 2010 the percent of
students reaching for mental health counseling was at a 45.2% but now alarmingly in 2013 it
increased into 48.7% percent. With high schools providing on campus therapy sessions and talk
groups it gives our youth the knowing that they actually do care to hear us out and that we aren't
alone in this battle of finding ourselves and not losing ourselves. These helping hands of mental
health that our schools are providing us, help us each and every day to know that the world might
seem like it's ending but there will always be a bright side at the end of the storm. Also according
to the American Psychological Association, students who who struggle are more likely to drop
out of school. These talks that we have with our counselors and therapist help us achieve a
confidence that we may not be able to achieve on our own and once that is over with and we are
on full drive to continue forward with ourselves, there is nothing that can get in the way of our
education anymore. I myself am a work of these treatment in which i needed this help in order to
get it all together and be where i am today, it was not an easy road to battle through but i made it
through all the way and i am a living representation of what these programs are achieving in our

youth, that the school is not just helping us in a small manner but giving us life essentials that we
need.
People may say that having some of these outreach programs and help from a lot of
agencies such as law enforcement as well is just a bad thing and makes our school system seem
like it is not for educational purpose but more for juvenile delinquents, but i am here to say that
they are wrong and that having these agencies here with us as an extra hand is even a better form
of help for our youth. Some of our students are surrounded by some of our youth that just don't
want the help they need and rather live out in these dangerous streets instead, and like with these
kids they will want to bring along anyone with them just so at the end they don't end up alone in
a jail cell. Having law enforcement has had its victories for example on January 18, 2016 the
LAPD busted a Marijuana growing operation near Sotomayor High School, that was netting
nearly 3-million dollars and flooding our youth with drugs and other illegal substances. Also
showing law enforcement on campus has scared off a lot of certain activities that would mislead
our youth to doing things that can change their lives forever, it gives our kids the satisfaction that
they know they are safe on campus and incase of any emergency they can always know they are
safe. Putting law enforcement on campus also gives our students the reality of how things will be
in the real world and what the city is expecting of them, this privilege that some schools offer to
their students has more benefits than downfalls to it and it's all clear to show that they are only
here to help us.
Schools are not just educational facilities so that our students come to learn, to some it's a
home that they become part of and an essential tool that they should all take full advantage of.
They give us tools that yet alone we would never be able to afford or provide for ourselves, we
reach essential points in our lives where we need a helping hand to help us get through the worst

of what life may throw our way. The help we receive from them can come in so many forms and
ways, and can make such a long run in our lives and a lot of people fail to notice that it's all
because of schools that we are where we are at right now. I am a living proof that the outreach
provided by our school system can take you places that you could never think about, I am
standing here today a senior in highschool about to graduate onto a 4 year university. School
touched my life beyond academics, it touched a part of me that I will always remember because I
am going to go really far with all the support I have received from academics to help with my
emotional and mental stability to keep striving forward

Cited Sources :

"Reduce Youth Involvement With Guns, Drugs, and Gangs." Goverment, n.d. Web. 20 May
2016.

"National Youth Gang Survey Analysis." Demographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2016
Novotney, Amy. "Students under Pressure." American Psychological Assosiation. N.p.,
Sept. 2014. Web. 25 May 2016.
"LAPD Busts $3-Million Pot Grow Near Sonia Sotomayor School." Eagle Rock, CA
Patch. N.p., 2013. Web. 25 May 2016.