My mother was always proud of me as I graduated from grade to grade because she never finished high school. But unfortunately, my mother passed away in 1993. She helped influence my education because I've realized that there is nobody else to teach me wrong from right.

So I've began to take school very seriously because I knew automatically that school is my only way to a more sophisticated life. Therefore, me graduating from high school will be a great accomplishment for me, as well as a great tribute to my mom. If it wasn't for her and her tragic death, I don't think I would have developed the strong mind that I have today. I used to think that school wasn't important and that life didn't mean anything but now that perception has changed. Today I believe that one-day I would be one of the best electrical engineers in this world.

Another person who has given me support and inspiration to succeed academically is my boss Mario Gonzalez. He lets me go to his house everyday to do my homework, relax and hangout with his thirteen-year. old son, Joseph. Gonzalez invites me into his house everyday because he would rather for me to be in his house, than for me hanging out in the streets. He has given me money when I needed it for school, and has given me the opportunity to work in different fields.

In return, I only have to do good in school and stay away from the streets because he believes that if I don't, I will end up like the rest of the people who drop out of high school and become either a drug dealer or drug abuser. Therefore, with his support and inspiration I am now to be the Valedictorian of the graduating class of 1999.

If I had the opportunity to inspire someone else it would be the young kids living in East Harlem because they grow up seeing what is going on around them. They grow up believing that drug dealers are good, that school is a waste of time, that Welfare is going to help them, etc. I would try and convince them that drug dealers are bad and that without education you won't have a good life or a good paying job.

I would try and inspire them by going to school myself and by doing the right thing myself so I won't be contradicting myself in any way. Right now I have been a positive role model to them because they see that I'm working, I don't smoke or get high, I don't drink and that I don't hang outside with the other people. They will also see that I will be going away to college soon. Some of these kids go to school but the ones that I am worrying about are those who already dropped out and are still young enough to go to school.