Jesus

"It’s important to get to know people, because people will help you."

By Students of NYC

December 6^th, 2024

"In 6th and 7th grade, I didn't really mess with anyone else. Some kids would bully me. I felt like everybody hated me, so I just stayed to myself. I had this teacher, Ms. Yu. She was a cool person. She would tell me not to listen to them. I wasn't failing my classes, but I didn't have perfect grades, either. I would look for problems sometimes, but Ms. Yu would tell me not to. I listened to her.

When I got to Belmont Prep, it got a little better. I was still shy and reluctant to talk to people. But then I met my friend Richard. I saw the way he would just be talking to everyone. He's a person that has to say hi to everyone. Stopping people in the hall, even teachers, and saying hi. I started talking to people more, too. I became friends with a group of girls, and they would always joke around with me and stuff. That's how I knew nobody hated me anymore.

It's important to get to know people, because people will help you. It's not good to be alone.

Every time I see I have missing work, I go crazy and start doing it. I'm really focused in class, and I like to become cool with the teacher so they can understand me and help me. If you have a problem, they'll try to help you out. Let's say there's a trip, and you can't pay the $10. Some teachers will get together and pay for it so you could go. A lot of people struggle, you know? So everybody helps everybody. All my teachers are cool, but my favorite is Ms. T. She's so funny. When I go into her class, I'm happy. I know her lesson plan is going to be easy, because she knows how to break things down.

Every time my family has a party, I'm the DJ. We play a lot of Spanish music — dembow, bachata. They just start laughing; my cousin will be doing a funny dance. Seeing people dancing while I'm playing music, it makes me so happy. It's like I'm controlling their happiness."