New York City Student Poem

Maria immigrated with her family from Lithuania to the South Bronx when she was ten years old. Despite the difficulties of the transition and the struggles her family faced, Maria was able to become a leader in her high school, as Class President and Captain of the varsity basketball and softball teams. As a Summer Search student, Maria continued to develop her leadership on her Deer Hill Expeditions trip to the Southwest and her International Doorways community service trip to Costa Rica. This fall Maria will attend Northeastern University on a full scholarship through the TORCH Program. She wrote this poem about Summer Search in the fall and just recently performed it at the Summer Search New York City Spring Event.

 

Out of the darkness, into the light

A failure in life
A mistake
Someone who just takes up space
That’s who I was
Just another statistic that had no chance to survive
A child roaming the streets and falling under peer pressure
A girl with no chance for her head to stand high
Thinking this was my calling
This was my destiny
I simply gave up…

It seemed as though I was sleeping
In a coma for so many years
When I finally woke up---was it too late?
I was in another country, learning another language
Which to me seemed
A journey with hard work and no true purpose

Thoughts of not being accepted
Not to mention my family’s problems
There I got hit by depression
The feeling of crying every day, and no one to turn to
A feeling of running away
And hopefully finding a path to a better life
From the one that seemed like a tunnel with no light
A life with no role model
Growing up without experiencing just a moment of a proper childhood
I felt alone
And having everything bottled inside
Seemed like the right thing

Then I started high school
Things were never the same
Summer Search
That was their name
With their help I am who I am today

You see they showed me another way
They believed in me
Invested in me
They were sure that I was going to break through walls
Do the impossible
And simply succeed
They showed me my future by taking the blindfold off my eyes
They told me no more cries

Such a perfect timing
Just as I was drowning
They came running
And pulled me back on the ground
It’s as if they pushed me away from the bullet
They guided me away from a path with a dead end
Into a path with no end
Summer Search helped me realize
That the chains that were holding me back for so many years
Were simply imaginary
All I had to do was stand up and I would get loose
An opportunity of a lifetime
And I do believe there is no way to thank them

Now I am a leader
For the first time I am a believer
Now I can cry
Cry tears of joy
Because I suddenly feel I have a real meaning in life

~ Maria

Senior, The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice
Deer Hill Expeditions ‘05
International Doorways-Costa Rica ‘06