BY SYLVIA PEREZ

	Art by Riona Faith O'Malley

Last spring, I enrolled at LaGuardia Community College. For years I had wanted to prove to myself that I am smart enough to get a college degree. I never felt like I had the chance to finish school because I didn’t have anyone to count on when I was young. My birth family gave me up and my adoptive family abused me.

But after 20 years of using drugs, I went to treatment and began attending a GED program. Despite failing the exam eight times in three years, I stayed focused on my goal.

It is truly a dream come true for me to be attending college. I love going to school and learning new and difficult things.

Focused on My Goal

My major is mental health. I am thinking of becoming a substance abuse counselor, helping women who are in recovery and trying to get their children out of foster care. As a recovering addict (I have almost seven years clean), I had to regain custody of my beautiful daughter and prove for three years that I was ready to have her returned from foster care.>>>(more)