Alejandro’s Story
As told by Alejandro:
“Generally, kids have goals and aspirations of achievement. Many have delusions of grandeur, but luckily, I had mentors who invested in my growth to propel my development. I however, was not self motivated, played 6-8 hours of video games a day, and in my mind, I was going to be a professional gamer. I was playing tennis at the time, so that took up part of my day, but when I was not on the court, I was gaming. At the time I had broken my arm, so I was not active with tennis or anything else. I was out for 6 months and had gained forty pounds while living a fairly mediocre life.
“During this period, I met Frideric, the first graduate of the Inspiring Children Foundation. Frideric and the foundation completely changed the trajectory of my life. He told me that I needed to lose the weight and cut out fast food and soda. I had never been conscience of my diet, so this was a very tough task. It trained my discipline, something that wasn't very prevalent in my life. He also told me that I need to be the hardest worker and do it with the best attitude with anything that I take part in.
“I took that to heart and with any task I was given on or off the court I was the hardest worker and never complained. It was very challenging but every time I committed to doing the right thing, mediocrity fled from my body. There was a complete mindset shift, simply because of the investment that was made in me. As a person and a leader I grew tremendously, from the investment from Ryan Wolfington, Tim Blenkiron, Ben Coates, Kristofer Yee, Karl Jones, and Max Novak. Had it not been for the mentors and leaders that I met throughout the program, I would still be playing video games and would not be pursuing college or tennis in this capacity.
“I have been searching for something my whole life, it’s happiness. I've gone through waves of emotions, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but always leading to a state of depression.
Something I have found that was a problem within myself was my state of mind. I could never sustain a long lasting happiness and would often be very depressed. I had a shell that I didn't know how to break through, and was searching for a way to be comfortable with myself.
Growing up, I played video games from sunrise to sundown. Being a naive teenager, I just did not see the negatives of looking at a screen for hours. It let me go into a world where I had no responsibility and could avoid life. Because of this, I had zero aspiration in life, and was lost. I knew that something was not right and was searching for a solution.
“Luckily, I was able to join the Inspiring Children Foundation. In this program I organically connected with many mentors that went through the same challenges as me. Not only did they have years of wisdom, but they were also people I could go to and be open with. I was allowed to be vulnerable and develop deeper connections with those that invested in me.
My first mentor, Trent, happened to be the first child to go through the program, the first scholarship and the catalyst for the next 114 kids that got a scholarship to college. He took me under his wing, and I knew that he had successfully gone through this program, so I was going to listen to whatever he told me to do. I still played a lot of video games when I met him and was about forty pounds overweight.
“My diet and video game habits were the first things he addressed. They were sources of short term pleasure, which are things that give you an instant high but long term lead to sadness and depression. By getting rid of the short term pleasure, I found true happiness by doing the right things in my life. Having a mentor was like having a life coach. I could be open with them and tell them my problems all while getting advice and suggestions. That was the spark that changed my mindset on life and eventually my happiness towards life.
To me, this changed the trajectory of my life. I went from playing video games six hours a day and being extremely mediocre, to having a vision for where I wanted my life to go. Had I not found this resource in my life I can say with confidence that I would have not gotten straight A’s in high school, or even graduated.
“Now, I am at a point where I can be a mentor in someone else's life. Currently I work with an eleven year old in the program and organically, we developed a connection. It means so much to me to be able to be a part of his life and help him through his struggles and challenges much like my mentor did for me. The impact that was left on me from my mentor is something that I strive to provide for him.”