By Mayra, GFC Alum

I have been involved with Girls For a Change for almost four years now. I first heard about it at the Girls For A Change Summit that my friends and I attended. I was very excited to see so many other girls who shared a common goal; to make a change in our communities. To see that so many leaders of our community believed in our potential was very inspiring. My friends and I decided to continue participating with Girls For a Change, to build a project that would help our community. The five of us and our coaches, Melissa and Amy, were able to reach our goal. We decided to create a project to prevent kids from joining a gang so early-on in life. We named this project GP6 (Gang Prevention for 6th Graders).

Our project consisted of two skits; one illustrates the cruel ending that many gang members face, the other, portrays the good and bad decisions that two girls make based upon the same situation. Our presentation also has facts, a question and answer time with the audience, and our personal stories about how we each have been affected by gangs. We presented facts to them are such as, within San Jose, there are over 40 different gangs, with more than 800 active members. We presented our findings to the students who were identified as most likely to join a gang. The students seemed hesitant at first, but by the end of our presentation, everyone seemed to pay close attention. I am still amazed, to this day, to have received these two questions: “Why do you care?” and “Aren’t you scared?”

We decided to do this project because we have personally felt the impact that gangs have had on our lives and on our community. We live in the “ghetto”, the East Side of San Jose. We attended the second worst high school in the entire district: Yerba Buena High School. This is a gated school, monitored by police. Living in this environment, I have seen things that no other child should see. This is the case when you live in a neighborhood where two major rival gangs live just across the street from each other. Sometimes, I wouldn’t even be able to take out the trash, because something was bound to happen.

I still never know if I will even make it home. About two months ago as I was walking home from school, a car with five girls threatened to beat me for no reason. I wasn’t even wearing “the wrong color.” Our gang prevention project led us to receive many Legislative awards, as well as a plaque from the Santa Clara Commission on the Status of Women. We also appeared on TV twice. But the biggest reward is hoping that we prevented at least one kid from joining a gang. When we began this project, we never imagined the impact that it would have on so many people. A life surrounded by violence all around me, was never enough to stop me from achieving what I knew I could. I came to the United States at the age of six, and my family and I had to start from zero.

I always worked hard, because this is the example that I received from my parents and older siblings. In a sense, I have worked twice as harder than other kids, who have been handed everything on a silver platter. I have fought through the adversity to get to where I am now. I am currently attending Santa Clara University, and majoring in Sociology with a minor in Urban Education. Yes I come from a bad neighborhood and an even worse school district, and it feels weird to me to feel safe at my current school, because my neighborhood IS so bad. I am not supposed to be here. I am not supposed to be attending this school, but I am.

And I am going to continue to work hard, so that I can return to my community and help make it better, so that other kids don't have to live through what I have lived through. I don't care if I don't make a lot of money; I'm in to help my community, not for my own personal gain. Sometimes kids like me have low incomes, and sometimes we only have one parent, but that hasn't been enough to stop us. The stories that we have about what we have been through, each of us, are so similar yet so different. A recent racist incident that took place at an off campus party at Santa Clara University, portrayed negative stereotypes, and targeted toward Latino students, made me think twice about staying at the school.

This incident kind of made me wonder, is this what some people really think when they see us? When we are the only Mexican, Latino, or even "Minority" in their class [because a lot of time we are]? Is this what they think of the employees who clean up after them, or even serve them their food? These are good, honest jobs, as good as any other. These are the types of jobs people work in order to feed their kids. I have heard incredible stories of parents who will work any jobs and any hours, in order to give their kids the basic necessities of life. The necessities that other kids take for granted.

And we, the students, are working extra hard so that our parents will get a break from such back-breaking jobs in their old age. That's why I am here. This is what I am here to accomplish. If we were really gangsters or whatever the normal stereotype is for Latinos, would we be attending Santa Clara? We are as good as anyone on this campus, and the fact that some ignorant people look down on us, really bothers me. Sometimes people give us weird looks, they look down upon us as if we were inferior. But nevertheless we have learned to cope with that, and accept that this will be the case from now until always.

For some reason people hate to see the disadvantaged, advance. People need to stop having prejudices and stereotypes about others. Make it a goal for yourself to advance, whether this is through your education, or at your job. Don't wait for someone to tell you that you can't do it, and then try to prove them wrong, do what you gotta do and do it NOW...because WHERE YOU COME FROM, DOES NOT PREDETERMINE WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING.