Dear Judge Rotenberg Center,

I was in JRC for five and an half years (September of 1998-January of 2004). Prior to entering JRC, I had little to no hope what so ever!!! Before I came to JRC, I was on a cocktail of medications in an effort to help me control my behavior. Such attempts were unsuccessful. When I first started JRC, I was averaging in the elementary level in most of my academic subjects. Just prior to me departing from JRC, an assessment was conducted and it concluded that I averaged in the 11th grade in most of my academic subjects.

When I entered JRC, I was very aggressive, disruptive, and such. I wouldn’t do my academics. At the time, I believed that academics were boring and a waist of time. I also believed that acting rude, disrespectful, fresh, and aggressive was the fun type of lifestyle. OH BOY WAS I WRONG!!! JRC got me to realize that there are lots of fun things to do besides acting up all the time. Such as going to the movies, mall, going to ball games, etc.

As far as my academics, JRC got me to sit down and start to achieve the goals and objectives of my IEP. Eventually, I went from doing math that looks like 5 + 3 to math that looks like 3661 divided by 32 and there came a time where JRC had me mastering math problems like 3y + 13y –8x=.

In January of 2004, after being in JRC for five and a half years, it finally came time for me to say goodbye. In February of 2004, I was enrolled into the public school system. It was a bit different and a huge challenge, which JRC had convinced me I could handle, and you know what, they were right!!! I did handle it. No, it was not easy, but I handled it. In June of 2004, I successfully completed the 11th grade and set the stages for my senior year.

My senior year was a whole new challenge. I would move to a different part of the country (Florida to be exact), which set the stage for massive challenges. It would be a sin for me to say that I was an angel through the adjustment process. The flight to adjustment was definitely one with lots of turbulence. Between getting to know a whole new region to starting a new school, but at the end of the day, I mastered just that and things got back to normal.

Well, lets cut to the chase. As a result of what JRC had done to me, I am now set to Graduate from High School towards the end of this month (MAY 2005). Graduating was something that I thought was never going to happen or that was just about impossible before coming to JRC. When I walk down the isle on May 20th of this year, I’ll be thinking about the fact that if it weren’t for JRC, I very well may have been walking down the isle in a Correctional Facility somewhere.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME JRC. IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU, I DON’T EVEN WANT TO TRY TO THINK ABOUT WHERE I WOULD BE TODAY.