The YMCA Youth & Government has changed my life completely. Many might say that am only stating this because others say it, but it is true. When I got involved in the program I only did it to have some where to go that was not my house. My father had left us at the time, I worked night shift to pay rent and bills, and my brothers where deeply involved in a dangerous gang; as a consequence so did I. At the time that I joined the program I was trying to get away from the gangs and what I used to do; being a member and a veteran of one of the most dangerous hangs in Santa Ana and the United States. And even though I am not proud of what I did, neither am I ashamed because to get where I am today I had to make a lot of difficult and dangerous decisions. The turning point was when I was a few months into the program; I was shot three times and stabbed twice. I was left for dead a block away from my house, lying there on the ground and later in the hospital bed I knew I had to change. Which I did, I am now not involved in any gangs because all the people I used to talk to think I am dead and even though my family had to move outside the city I still commute to my high school. The Y & G program has taught me that there are a lot of people out there and they are my competition for a job and career. It taught me that the people I used to be with are not going to be there when I leave to a university nor are they going to give me a good career in the future. Y & G has opened my eyes to many things that are too complex and so much a part of me, which I cannot right on paper. But the most obvious change of all is that I don't go into my classes wishing I was some where else, I am not afraid to show my emotions any more, and I look forward to every Monday that we have of Y & G meetings.

Daisy Perez