Samuel (14) was a keynote speaker.
Williamson County Juvenile Services Center held an end-of-summer celebration to showcase the experiences of Academy students who participated in more than a dozen short programs since June. Prevention Coordinator “Miss Kristin” arranged for courses and experiences in finance, yoga, art, sewing, boxing, Crossfit, driving simulation, and even a world-touring violinist. All of the participating providers were volunteers or donated time and space at minimal costs.
Samuel (photo right) summed up everything I could have said about this event, but so much better… I’m going to let his own speech tell the story. ~AML
Alright, well hello. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Samuel. I’ve been in the program for about three months now. I got here right when we began all the summer programs in June. At first I didn’t want to participate in any of the activities like Crossfit-—come on now, we do P.T. every morning. Boxing? It ain’t nothing I can’t learn on the street. Culinary? That’s why God made cookbooks, right?
Samuel’s display for his summer programs.
These were some of the thoughts running through my head during the first couple of weeks. I wasn’t thinking about how the county paid money to get us those programs or how people took time out of their day for me. And I sure wasn’t thinking about how one man could’ve just said “no” and shut it all down.
I was being ungrateful.
Okay, I don’t like to bring negative thoughts into a positive situation but let’s face it, we are locked up. So let me ask you a question. How many people do you know can honestly say while being locked up they got to go to a program like boxing or do Crossfit? I can’t, to be honest. I know only a few people in the free who go do those things.
There’s only one thing I can say about the situation when I think about it—this is a blessing.
You all didn’t have to go out of your way to give us something to do instead of being in the facility all day. Y’all did it because y’all wanted to. Because y’all understand sometimes in life you make mistakes. You all go above and beyond in helping us recover from our mistakes and also give us advice on how not to make them again. Sometimes you get knocked off the horse. The only thing I think matters is whether you get back on it or not. And for that I’d like to thank Commander Bijou, the Prevention Team, Admin, Academy Supervisors, the JSO, the residents and most of all, Miss Kristen.
Thank you for your time.
