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Meet Valiece Long, a senior at Clearwater High School and recent participant in the Junior Achievement Program. Hear her story, visualize her experience, witness her potential, determine your role, and make a difference…..

"One Sunday afternoon my dad and brother went fishing off the Courtney Campbell Causeway, something they enjoyed doing together. My dad got hot and decided to take a dive off the side of the boat when he cracked his skull on a rock. My brother watched as my dad’s body floated to the bottom of the water. He was rescued by the Coast Guard and taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was left on life support for a week, but he didn’t respond. He left my mom with five children to raise on her own. After he died, we had to move. It was hard to find anyone who would be willing to take all six of us in because my mom refused to split us up. Finally my great grandma, who lived in a small two bedroom one bath duplex with my great uncle and my grandmother opened her home to us. It was either that or a homeless shelter. So we moved in.

There were only two beds in the duplex, my great grandma and great uncle got those. The two short couches and the reclining chair in the living room were turned into beds for the seven of us. My mom got a job working for an Assisted Living Facility. She barely slept because she would work double shifts to make extra money. She’d fix dinner and get us ready for bed then go to work and be back in time to get us off to school. This became her routine.

My mother finally saved up enough money so that we could move to a house in Largo where I attended Bauder Elementary School. At first I was very excited about going to school, but I started struggling with just about everything my teacher put in front of me. My fifth grade teacher sat me down and told me that next year in middle school, there will be no one to baby you, you’ll either make it or not. The last grading period of fifth grade I made Honor Roll for the first time. I was so motivated by it that I started working harder in class and earned Honor roll throughout middle school.

Mom had since changed jobs and was laid off from that job. I watched her struggle to pay the bills, keep food on the table and clothes on our backs. There were many meals she’d do without so that we could eat. Sometimes we brought sides home from our school lunch like apples and crackers so that we would have something to eat. When I got older, to help my mom out, I got an after school job and gave the money I earned to her for the common good of the family.

Many children in my situation lose hope and go astray. Drug dealers, murders, teen pregnancy and stealing are the “norm” where I live. But my mom taught us to walk in faith, to work hard, and stressed the value of a good education. But how was she going to put five kids through college? Mom had a plan. Starting from 6th grade on, she placed us all in academic programs for tutoring, mentoring and leadership. That’s why when I heard about Junior Achievement’s STEM TECH program, I signed up. I’ve been involved in many programs, but nothing like JA!

The program sponsored by WorkNet Pinellas engaged youth in work readiness and career exploration activities and blended them with actual visits to businesses so that we could check out different careers. Those who qualified to participate came from low economic backgrounds and had to have a barrier to their education or employment. Like my fellow participant, Courtney, who dealt with her problems by running away from home and Billie who lived in a foster home because his relatives used the money the state gave them to buy expensive luxury items for themselves.

Our Junior Achievement mentors were inspirational! Ms. Dixon, Ms. Spencer, Mr. Manning and Ms. Hasbini looked out for our best interests going above and beyond what was expected to ensure that we had everything we needed to have a successful experience. From them I learned how to write a resume and handle an interview which helped me to recognize my strengths so that I can sell myself on college scholarship applications. But the two things that I benefited the most from were developing an understanding of the value of teamwork and personal direction for my life.

Junior Achievement kept us motivated by having numerous competitions which encouraged collaboration and team spirit. At the beginning of the camp we were divided into groups and given so many assignments that it would have been impossible for one person to complete them on his own. We did interesting projects like building solar powered cars and developing our own company using JA’s “Be Entrepreneurial” program. We got it all done by dividing up the tasks based on everyone’s strengths.

Since we all like to text, we thought it would be nice to be able to text all we wanted to for free? That was how our company, Flex-Text, was born. It would be a non-profit business that would charge companies a fee to advertise their product over subscribers’ cell phones. My job was to write the business plan and develop our financial projections for the next two years. My teammates then put it into a power point presentation. But we wanted to stand out above the other eight teams we were competing against so we created a video commercial; the writing and acting was done by my teammates. I was the girl behind the camera.

With our commercial we did win the top award! I was so proud of what we accomplished!

Going into JA’s STEM TECH, I thought I would be going to college to study business, but my JA volunteer, Ms. Bellamy, encouraged us to pick a career based on what we like doing and not on how much money you can make. I really love anatomy and studying body parts so I thought our job shadowing experiences at St. Petersburg College’s Prosthetic’s Program and MOSI was very interesting. I was intrigued by the nervous reaction to trauma. These JA experiences were the turning point in my life helping me make the decision to pursue my dream to be a neurosurgeon! Even though it’s my senior year, I’ve decided to get a jump on my career. I’m dually enrolled at Clearwater High School and St. Petersburg College taking anatomy, physiology, physics and cellular biology. Sounds like a lot, but I’m LOVING it!

There were times that I would ask myself: “Why didn’t I get a chance to know my father? Why did I have to do without on most birthdays and holidays? And why did I have to endure so much hardship?” I think it was so that I will be grateful for all the things in my life and not take anything for granted. It’s not where you come from that matters, it’s where you’re going. Thanks to Junior Achievement, I know where I’m going! I’m excited about my future and hope that other kids like me have the same opportunity to experience this life-changing program."

U.S. students’ work-readiness problem is acute, and it has the potential to impact the economy and, consequently, your business’s costs, needs and profits. Recent studies report that students who fail to connect with relevant learning are much more likely to drop out of school and face joblessness, poverty, poor health, dependence on public assistance, and jail time.

Junior Achievement answers our children’s urgent need with a proven model. With your assistance, JA can immediately provide local students with relevant, age-appropriate, experiential programs that deliver career role models and cutting-edge tools, such as leadership, teamwork and decision-making skills. To increase implementation of these much-needed programs, we need your help. Through volunteer partnerships from organizations large and small, or individuals interested in sharing their experiences with the children of their community, Junior Achievement of West Central Florida was able to impact the lives of 71,000 students last year with goals of expanding to 75,000 in the 2010/2011 school year. To learn more about Junior Achievement of West Central Florida and find a location near you, please visit our website at www.jawcf.org