I have been through so much in my life. I was raised by a single mother in a bad neighborhood. I lived there from the first grade till grade 11, from 13 to 19 years of age. I got in some trouble with the police, I still remember this one night a police officer ran after me and my friends for no reason. We were walking to the TTC bus stop from my neighborhood. We had moved at that time and I didn’t live there no more. I remember the police officer sparred me down to the ground and pointed a gun to my face I was scared and thought I was going to die. That was just one of many bad things that happen in my life. Though all my school years, I was in a boy and girls club. We played basketball and went to a summer camp. As I grew up, I never took my life seriously. I felt like nobody cared about me and I got lazy. I didn’t really do anything with my life, until one day I started to think that I didn’t want my life to be like this. My sister told me about a program to help me get a job and I got in the program. I feel like I’m doing something with my life now and I’m happy about it.
Derrick Robinson