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Youths make a 180-degree change
By MICHELE MILLER © St. Petersburg Times, published March 30, 2001 NEW PORT RICHEY -- Fifteen-year-old Ciera Scrivens sat in the audience fanning her face with her hands, trying hard to stave off the tears. At the microphone was her friend, Elizabeth Williams, one of five winners of the second annual Pasco Juvenile Justice Council's Turn-Around Youth Award. "Thanks to all my friends who came to support me," Elizabeth said to the crowd at a breakfast in the Clarion Hotel. "I want you all to know that life has a lot to offer for young girls." Applauding her good friend, an emotional Ciera said: "She's made such a difference. She's smart, and she's really helped me." That kind of testimony is music to the ears of an 18-year-old who six years ago was in a downward spiral. "At age 12, I got into drugs. I got pregnant at 15, had my child at 16 and I continued to do drugs," Elizabeth said. "Then I lost custody of my child and got committed to JDC (Juvenile Detention Center)." But her time at Wilson Youth Academy in Land O'Lakes, where Elizabeth eventually landed, helped to change all that. "I started reading my Bible and got familiar with the word," Elizabeth said. "I have learned a lot of coping skills." Now she wants to serve as a role model for others who find their lives spinning out of control. "I want girls to know that there's a lot of options out there," Elizabeth said. "I know I'll do all right. I have my faith in God, and I know he's walking with me." That faith, said Elizabeth, has helped her to go for her General Educational Development certificate, which she hopes to earn next week. After that, it's on to more schooling, perhaps at Polk Community College. Best of all, said Elizabeth, is the recent news about her son, who recently turned 2. "I just found out last week that when I get out of here I'm going to get my son back," she said. Hers is just one of the stories to touch a panel of judges who serve on the Pasco Juvenile Justice Council and who were given the task to choose the final winners out of 15 entrants from throughout the county. For those honored, it has no doubt been a long, arduous journey -- one watched and applauded by others, like Michelle Hinson, program director of Wilson Youth Academy, and Danielle Taylor-Fagan, executive director for the PACE Center for girls in New Port Richey. "I'm proud of all of my girls. Where they come from is kind of hard," Hinson said. "We help them get on the right track and let them know that even though you made a mistake you still have hope. You can still make a change." "They're awesome, they're terrific," said Taylor-Fagan, who saw four of her students nominated, two whom received awards. "We watch them take great strides and work really hard to make something of themselves." Sixteen-year-old Jessica Robinson, another Turn-Around winner who attends Gulf High School, had much to say about how her sponsor's advice contributed to her success in turning her life around. Jessica, who had gotten into drugs and skipping school after moving from Pinellas to Pasco County and "getting in with the wrong crowd," said a kind word of encouragement on a daily basis from the school resource officer, Deputy Jim Derner, made all the difference in the world. "He saw my record and knew that the year before I had been skipping school a lot," Jessica said. "But every day he came up to me and asked how I was doing, or if I had any homework. He was always telling me that I was smart, that I could do it. "You just don't know what it means, how great it is to have someone ask you, "How are you doing?' "
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From today's Pasco Times |
