Jesse Torres, Sophomore, Houston East End GreenbeltGreenSchools! Green Ambassador and STEAM Lab Proctor - The Green Institute- Furr High School; Renewable Energy Pathway
I am thankful for all the opportunities, I
have received through the Green Ambassador program. It has really changed my
life for the better. I was going through a period, in which school was not
interesting or capturing my attention. My energy was not being channeled. I
would have probably been a high school dropout or in jail, and I am not being
dramatic with the statement. Friends of the National Forests and Grasslands in
Texas –Latino Legacy has given me experiences that I thought I would have never
gotten before in my life. When they partnered with The Green Institute at Furr
High School, it was a program I didn’t know much about at first, but wanted to
engage due to the animals in the STEAM Lab. Now, I am a proctor in the lab and
steward of the animals.
I had the luxury to be born in the United
States. I remember when I was little, I would love to be around nature. I
enjoyed to hear all the birds chirping, to see the blue skies, sit in the rain,
and observe the awe of massive tall trees. My mother was the person who
influenced me to engage and care for nature. To look at the beauty in life, and
all the great things all the plants and animals do for us. I remember I would
spend hours on end with her taking care of the garden at our house. I remember
the pride I took seeing the things I grew come to life. It made me feel joy.
I started to lose my bond with nature, I
started to fall into depression and my life fell apart. I started to get into a
lot of pointless violence and needed an outlet to escape. Thanks to this
program, I started to gain a connection to nature and heal again. I have to
thank this program so much for getting me more involved, for giving me hope and
a reason to smile and for giving me a vision and focus. If this program never
existed, I would have been in a horrible place. If it were to leave, I would
try to follow it to continue to grow with my second family.
What I do, is share all the things I have
learned from this program. I pass it down to others, if people were to ask me
why they should care for this program… I would tell them because it will help
them grow. It will help them learn responsibility and evolve their critical
thinking. It will give them light to shine and empower them with important
skills for life. What keeps me in this program is the fact that I can be around
people with the same goal. I'm around people who want to help the environment,
who actually care. People who will give it their all to get their goal and visions
to make it into reality.
I wish to major in zoology or fire ecology
so I can make a difference with people, the land and animals. I want to help
and see this world continue, but in better shape. My university of choice is
going to be Stephen. F. Austin State University. I am not going to lie,
recently in the past few years, I didn't care at all for my future, not even
once, but thanks to this program, I actually do care a lot. It helped me, by
allowing me to take personal action and see results. I needed to push myself
and this movement has allowed me to grow, so much that now I am a leader. It
has given me wisdom to pass down to others. I plan to be proactive and share
solutions through the work we do and teach others ways to engage. To make my
community more environmentally aware. I will take full advantages of
opportunities given to me, I love being a part of this movement, it
means so much to me it has become my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment