I currently live in a motel at home in City Heights, right on Elkhon Boulevard.
I've been living there since the end of 8th grade and really it's just been a huge journey
of dealing with the rent and dealing with residency and having to move in and out of
my place.
We're surrounded by drugs, prostitution, alcohol and all that and it's really easy to just
fall into a bad role model so I'm trying to be that role model that's just easy and
convenient for my brother so to be there for him is like pushing me to say like I need
to get good grades because if I don't, who else is he going to look up to, you know?
At home and currently with a single mother, my father was arrested recently for robbery
and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
When I think about it, my next nine years is prom, senior year, first acceptance to a
college close to graduating college.
To be deprived of a father that's not going to be there and to not really experience that
with me, kind of, you know, it hurts and it's heavy but you know, I'm grateful for the people
I do have in my life that are going to be there with me every step of the way like my
mother and like my brother and a bunch of friends that I have here at school.
My name is Ronald Edward Moreno Jr.
I'm a junior at the Poyce Grease SSD.
My advisory teacher is Mr. Foetron and I am currently 17 years old.
I'm a university preparatory teacher, my job is when they fall off that track and they
do is to help them back on, you know, whether it's a family situation, academic situation,
whatever it is, my job is to make sure that they stay true to why they're here and to
give them every opportunity to you to stand up after they fall down.
My name is Vincent Foetron, I teach in the exercise and health science department.
I also coach a lot of soccer here at the Poyce School and I've been here since 2003.
I see it as a bit of a roadmap so we bring a student in sixth grade and we prepare them
through the middle school years to have the skills they'll need to be successful at the
high school level and then at the high school level it's it's rigor like no other and we
overly prepare them for the college experience so when they are accepted and attend they
can not only be in college but excel at that level.
Ronald is kind of why Poyce exists, he's the kid who defines perseverance.
He comes from a difficult living situation, he comes from a difficult family situation,
he even has a difficult transportation situation so despite all of that he excels, he does
everything necessary to get good grades, to be a varsity athlete, to be an amazing classmate.
He shows up every day with a smile on his face because he knows if he goes through the
process that there's that golden ticket at the end.
That's it for this video, I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next one.
Bye.
