Rubi Romero
2008 SAM State Winner
Marietta PLC
Written Expression-High

How CIS Has Made a Difference in My Life
By Rubi Romero

These days, many young people take education for granted and don’t really strive to reach their fullest potential.  Why is it that when we are given good opportunities we ignore them and don’t fully embrace them?  Whenever we encounter a few obstacles, we want to give up and start to believe that our hopes and dreams are impossible to reach.  For me, these feelings of hopelessness changed when I came to the Communities in Schools Marietta Performance Learning Center or, as we commonly call it, the PLC. When I came to the PLC, I was told that quitting wasn’t an option and it wasn’t allowed.  Because Communities in Schools invested in the PLC and the PLC invested in me, I now have the courage, confidence and resources to soar higher than I ever dreamed I could.
            There have been many moments when I felt there wasn’t any resolution to my problems besides quitting.  It seemed that quitting would have been an immediate and effortless resolution to ease the pain I was feeling.  However, sometimes quitting isn’t an easy thing to do, especially if the people around you won’t let you.  I thought that going to school was dreadful and I really wanted to quit. But, my parents and some very important teachers in my life, wouldn’t make quitting very easy for me to do.  They questioned me as to what I was going to do if I stopped going to school and what would or could I do without a solid educational foundation?  Their questions literally made me cry because I knew that without an education, I wasn’t going to get anywhere.  By this time, however, my grades and attendance had gotten so bad that I just knew there was no hope.  But one day someone talked to me about a school where failing wasn’t an option.  Hello PLC!
            Did you know that there is a school where you don’t fail because you are given the support and opportunities to succeed?  The PLC is that place and my PLC put my success in my hands.  When I first came to the PLC, I was astonished that no matter how many times I failed a test, the teachers wouldn’t settle for failure.  They would work with me to give me the tools and knowledge I needed to make good grades.  The teachers at the PLC are firm and don’t entertain much playing around, but they are also understanding of the fact that school has not been the most pleasant place for most students and they try to find new ways to make learning interesting and relevant. The PLC put the ball back in my court and I ran with it. I turned my academic progress around.  I started taking good notes and I got excited about what I was learning.  Now, failure wasn’t an option not only because they wouldn’t allow it, but because I wouldn’t either.  Working on my grades also meant changing my attendance habits and here at the PLC, attendance is critical.  Because the PLC places such high importance on attendance, I have changed my bad habits and become more disciplined; I come to school everyday and I even look forward to being here. Now I know that if I work hard and come to school everyday, I will not fail and CIS’s PLC will not let me.
            Before a butterfly can fly, it is a caterpillar bound by a cocoon; it doesn’t have wings and it has nowhere to go.  I was that caterpillar, that is, before coming to the PLC.  I was a hungry caterpillar, searching for something to fulfill me and make me happy.  During the times that I wanted to quit, when there were problems all around me, I didn’t have the desire to accomplish anything.  But the PLC has given me so much hope.   My teachers and administrator gave me the tough love that I really needed.  I had built a cocoon around myself and even though I so badly wanted to come out and be free, no one was able to break through my walls.  I had trapped myself, but thankfully, I broke free.  I am now a butterfly, free to explore a world of limitless opportunities.  I can soar above all of the painful experiences that had previously held me back.  Because of the PLC, I know that there is so much out there for me to accomplish.  I know that there is a better world out there and there is now a place for me in it.
            Trust me when I say that coming to school can give you a feeling of happiness and accomplishment that you never knew existed.  Because of CIS I know that with a good education, anything is possible.  I know it sounds cliché but it’s true.  Thank you CIS for giving me the future I dreamed of, yet never thought I would have.