JALICE
By: MIGHTY PURSUIT TEAM
I have three sisters and two brothers. I don’t live with all of them. My brother is in college, one of my sisters has her own company and my other sister has two kids. My nephew and my niece love me. I like my neighborhood, because the second I walk out my door, like five people say “Oh, hi Jalice!” They call me little Woody. Sometimes there are mean people in the neighborhood. Sadly, I had to move schools [in the Bronx], because at my old school there was a lot of drama and there were a lot of people who were rude to me. There were a lot of mean people, they would just talk about [me] behind [my] back. [One day] we were in math class and I went to go to my locker and one of my friends was there. They told me that a girl was [talking about how ugly I was] and so I had to talk to a counselor to help with the situation. I don’t like when people are mean, because I’m not mean.
ART THERAPY
I’ve been part of a House on Beekman since I was a baby and since I’ve known most of them a long time, I’m very comfortable with them and I trust them. I feel comfortable enough that I can talk to them and they won’t just tell everyone, or I’ll ask them to help me with something and they’ll help me instead of just leaving me there. They’ve helped me with my emotions a lot [and compared to school], my friendships are very good. On Fridays, we’ll do this thing where we give compliments to each person and we write down what we like about the person. That helps me with my emotions. When I read the comments, they make me feel happy, because I know that people actually like me. There’s always very fun activities at [A House on Beekman] like dance, singing and art. [Art] is very relaxing [to me]. When I’m feeling really strong emotions, I can just sit and draw. [One day] we were in class and everyone was yelling and we had got in trouble because people were being so loud. I got really angry, so I sat down and started drawing.
FEMALE POLICE OFFICERS
[When I grow up], I want to be a police officer. I don’t really see a lot of female police officers, so I think it would be really cool. I’ve never seen any Hispanic female police officer ever. I think police officers help a lot of people and it would be very nice to help people because I like helping people. Even with the smallest things, I help my brother with my homework. Or even if he needs help with reaching something. Or with my mom, if she needs help cooking or passing her the food cooking. I think [the desire to help people] comes from my mom and dad, because they both help people. My dad helps my mom cook, and my mom helps my dad cook. My dad helps her fix things in the house. It makes me feel happy and proud to have them as parents, and it makes me happy because I know that I can count on them when I need them.
