I was nervous because it was my first time away from home, for one.
And a lot of times, if you’re 16, you’ve never been away from home.
Secondly, there were 23 of us enrolled that day, and I was the only female.
So I was very nervous. 
But they ended up taking care of me.
We are still in touch with one another, and everyone’s doing well.
But that’s what made me nervous the most—being away from home.
And then, when I got there and was in a room full of
gentlemen and I was the only female, I just
didn’t really know what was going to happen. But the staff ...
there were ambassadors in place that made the journey comfortable.
Once I got to the dormitory, I went in the room with a lot of 16-year-olds.
I was in the room with the SGA leader and a
dorm leader, and so they kind of took me under their wings, and it made the experience better.
I cried for like 3 months, every day.
But there was staff in place whose hearts were in it, and they were like,
“You’re not going home.”
When you come from that setting, and you don’t have support at home. And when someone’s heart is really in,
and they take you under their wings ... they see in you.
When I was young and 16, I couldn’t see what they saw; I just wanted to go home.
But you know, it’s the best decision I made in life.
I wouldn’t take nothing for it.
No matter where you go, everything that you’ve done prior to Job Corps, leave it outside the gate.
You have a fresh start. 
There’s nothing written on the sheet.
They only know what people tell you.
A lot of times, people are nervous and they bring extra baggage with them.
And I tell students all the time, “This is a fresh start.”
Whatever you write on the walls, that’s the only thing they know about you.
So my advice would be, if you have a fresh start, just leave everything else out there.
Come in with an open mind, get involved, and get busy.
