aLINA'S SECOND CHANCE

This year, over 400 young people like Alina came through the Teen Court program
and were given a second chance at having a bright future.

Read Alina's story and learn how your gift not only positively impacts individuals, but
our community as a whole.

When I was in 6th grade, I moved from Washington State to Sarasota with my mom. It was a rough transition, as I was away from my dad, and also got bullied, yet I still managed to get straight A's and receive numerous awards in school.

In 8th grade, I met a boy and we started dating. He smoked marijuana and offered it to me several times. At first, I said no to his offers, but eventually I tried smoking marijuana. This boy had a bad home life and he ended up living with my family . The more I was around him, the more I would smoke. All throughout middle school I was active in dance, so in 9th grade I went to Booker High School for their VPA Dance program. Even though dance was something I loved, I started smoking marijuana before class in the morning and also skipping school. My grades were dropping and I wasn't in a healthy state of mind, which just made me want to smoke more. I was still dating the same boy and our relationship was not healthy, but I was stuck. I was aware of my talents and potential and knew that all I had to do to succeed was make a choice to put effort into dance and school, but I chose not to.

Eventually, things were bad enough with that relationship that I broke up with the boy, but felt very depressed. I wound up doing virtual school at home while also babysitting my baby brother. My mom was getting divorced again and we lived in a shelter for 2 weeks. There was no stability in my life and everything was hard. I somehow managed to transfer to Sarasota High School, which was my school of choice, and enter the APEX program as a way to get my grades up. I wasn't challenged in school and my boredom contributed to getting into trouble. I was smoking marijuana every day at this point and in my senior year of high school I was caught with marijuana when my friend's car was pulled over by a police officer.

The amount of marijuana I took responsibility for, to cover for friends (some of it was mine), was enough for a felony charge. I was already aware of just how damaging that would be to my future. When my mom picked me up from the police station the next morning, I felt like I failed her. It was so emotional and I felt so ashamed of myself.

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to come through Teen Court! Along with being sentenced to jury duties and community service hours, I had to go through Camp X-RAYD. That experience had a huge impact on me. Throughout the day of Camp X-RAYD I just kept thinking, "I'm not supposed to be here. I never want to get in trouble again. It's not worth it." I was especially affected by our tour of the Medical Examiner's office. I was so young and had my whole life ahead of me. It was heartbreaking to hear stories of young people like me who lost their lives because of poor choices. I couldn't imagine my mom losing me or my brother. I knew that I was better than my choices leading up to this point and I wanted to make a change.

My experience with Teen Court was wonderful. The staff was so nice and super supportive. They helped me get through whatever I needed to get through. I kept to myself at jury duty and took the process seriously, learning a lot from the speakers who would come talk to us during Peer Circle. I started going to the gym and working out everyday. I was working part-time and focused on getting my grades up. At some point, my school said I wouldn't be allowed to walk with my class for graduation based on the incident which brought me to Teen Court. This was devastating to me. Graduating high school is a big part of your life, and it's a big accomplishment to walk across that stage - I was heartbroken I wouldn't have that opportunity. After seeing how hard I was working on everything, my case manager, Shaun, reached out to Sarasota High School and advocated for me to be able to walk with my class during graduation. I still remember hearing the news that I would be able to walk with my class; it made me so happy! I will always be grateful to Shaun for believing in me.