CHOICES FIELD REPORT

Boaz Chamber President Gets Personal on Why She Delivers CHOICES

I am a firm believer in the CHOICES program and its ability to change lives. I first heard of the CHOICES program was through a county leadership program as an employee of the Better Business Bureau of North Alabama. As a presenter, I dealt primarily with kids that were out in rural areas. When I began my career with the Chamber of Commerce, I presented CHOICES to our city school system where I know most of the kids. However, it was the rural kids with limited opportunities that affected me the most.

I could relate to them, and in my presentation I would tell them that when I was their age, I went to work at 5:00 am during the summers to a field to pick squash just to buy my own school clothes because it was important to me to look nice. I stressed to them how important a healthy work ethic is and how it will make them feel accomplished when they work hard and are paid for it. I explained how it made me appreciate my success because I put in sweat equity to reach my goals.

As a teenager, I was one of those kids that needed this program. It's a miracle that I made it through school, as I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school, much less go to college.

There was no real focus on education in my household as a child. Both of my parents were hard workers, but they worked with their hands because that's what their families before them did. I decided early on that I would not repeat the cycle, but instead create my own destiny. With God on my side and willpower, I was able to do that. Even though I grew up with a lot less than my most of my friends, I consider myself fortunate. I know first hand that hard work pays off.

In some cases, because we are from rural America, I feel that we have been stereotyped as poor and uneducated, and sometimes, we live up to what others think of us. BUT, I believe that we have to prove to each other and ourselves that we can overcome that and become what we want if we make good CHOICES! We can go wherever our dreams take us; we just have to be willing to do it! I always tell the kids to use their situation, whether good or bad, to become better, stronger, more productive people.