Kerri-Lee...

This is my second full year. What works for me is the one-on-one I get when I have trouble. I developed a really good relationship with my teacher. I spent some time (nine months) at the youth jail in the Miramichi. It was my teacher that helped me turn around. I got a progress report back. She said, “Kerri has had a good semester, that I’ve been learning really well, and my attitude has changed.”

I have good marks in everything. It was quite a surprise to see. You’re always moving on. I enjoy Power English. English has always been my strong subject. I started in Book Six. I’m finishing Book Eight and moving on to nine. Right now, we are reading a book as a class, called “The Pen Dragon.” By the end of this year, I would like to be in the pre-GED book. That’s my goal. I hope, by the middle or end of next year, to take the ten-week GED course at the Community College.

We have projects. The last, we had to research a historical person. I chose Albert Einstein. I knew he invented something, but it was really hard to figure what he did invent. But I did that and got a 92% and I was very pleased. I really put my heart in the project.

Now, we have to pick a disease to do research on. Just before Christmas my father had three silent heart attacks. The main artery to his heart was 85% blocked. It was angina, so I know pretty well everything there is to know about it. Just to learn more different things about it interests me very much.

I feel prouder, more mature. This has changed me. I think more of myself because I’m doing something. Now, I’m stronger and if I’m going to do anything, I’m going to do it now. I really think it has to do with this (program) and I want to do it, so I can do this or that. I feel this program (for those 16 to 19) is a good step for people coming out of high school who can’t function there.

-A selection from an interview with Kerri-Lee Després, Lakeville NB