Being Apart of Something

I am vey proud to be part of the year up community. Being part of this particular community you do have to have professional skills, you have to work well with others, and have a willingness to succeed in life. I became a member of this community long before I started my first day of school. I honestly was sold on the program when I was just going through the interview stages. I feel as if though every person that is a part of this community wanted membership because they filled out the application and attended all the necessary meetings.

What did I pick Up During Module 1

What are some of the things you learned about yourself as a student or a professional in Module I? Did you surprise yourself in any way? Were you proud of yourself? Were you at all disappointed in yourself? Why?


What I learned as a student in module 1 was that i'm not as professional as I thought. I also thought I could write well but I found out the hard way that I couldn't write well at all. At the end i found that i can be the professional that i want to be in life. I was proud that I made it through the first module. I was disappointed that got certain infractions for things i felt were avoidable.

Changing the Neighborhood

The neighborhood I am staying in right now is not under any type of construction right now. The neighborhood I came from is currently under gentrification as we speak. The property I am referring to is hunters point. The upper class really loves and value the view this piece of land offers. They want to buy the property and build million dollar homes on it. These particular housing projects have a great view of the bay. I don’t know what’s going on right this minute with the deconstruction of the apartments. I sincerely hope they do not tear down these buildings, they hold a lot of history for me and my family. I have generations that grew up inside these buildings. First my grandma came from Georgia with my granny, her husband, and my Uncle June. Then my granny met my grandpa out in hunters point. They got married and had my two uncles, Jessie and Mark. My grandma had another child, my mom. They grew up there until my mom and my dad got together and had me. We stayed in those projects for a while. We left those apartments and went to go live somewhere else. Also my cousins on my dad's side of the family stayed over in these projects. I feel like my whole existence is very much attached to that area. I was told by my grandmother that a particular group of people bought the land that the housing projects sit on. I was told that the view was priced at a very high value. I was also told that they were trying to get current residents to sell their homes so they can knock down these individual owned condos and build a very expensive structure in it's place. I believe that these people do not know or care about the strong history that this piece of land holds not only for the residents, but also for people who used to stay there. I think the reconstruction of any neighborhood should go under great discussion.

Young and Dumb vs Older and Wiser

I feel as if though an employer needs to know that I'm a hard working man that would love to climb the ranks of any corporate ladder. But my story hasn't always been about success. My background is filled with memories. Some good, some bad, some ugly. For me I say the most important part started when I moved away from my home town of San Francisco. Moving to fairfield or "the flats" as they call it was not the happiest time in my life, but it was my parents first house. As the years went on I gave up on the belief of education and dropped out of high school. I started living the hard life of an urban youth.

So by the age of nineteen i seen my first jail cell, but unfortunately it was not my the last time. When I turned 21 I got into some real trouble and did a 18 month  bid inside a county jail. But before I left that cage behind, something happened to me. I made a life change. I decided right then ad there that I was not going to spend the rest of my life behind bars. That was a year and a half ago. I feel as if though I've been rejuvenated; reborn. That leads me to where I'm at now in life. Where's that? I'm in a life changing program that gives you a second chance at being a proactive member of society.