July 2, 2006

To Whom It May Concern:

A couple of weeks ago, I graduated high school. It seems like a fairly ordinary task completed by several thousand teenagers in the state of California annually. But for me, it had sadly become impossibility. As my life continued in a cruel downward spiral, I felt I was helpless but to watch myself sink. The real tragedy was my educational suicide. I did NOTHING to stop myself from failing. I did nothing to stop myself from sneaking out to get drunk with my friends. I did nothing to make my parents stop crying over my failure. I did get mad. I blamed teacher, adults, police, and my parents.

Needless to say, my parents were devastated. See, I was adopted as a baby. My mother was 15 years old, and a prostitute in Seoul, South Korea. She abandoned me in the hospital. My parents saved my life. Without their efforts to rescue me, I would be without a family in a group home in Korea. To get wealthy American parents was truly some stroke of divine luck. And to be privileged enough to live in the beautiful state of California is another story! I should have realized that life is not always like an adoption. You cannot pick and choose, and you cannot get the chance to start over.

Grizzly Youth Academy was my second, second chance. I was skeptical. How could a program that was only 5 months long POSSIBLY change me. I didn't see anything wrong with my life. I was perfectly happy with my truancy record I had set at school. I was happy with my mornings full of hang-overs. I didn't know how much more there was to life. However, I did get an idea of how the program worked at around 5 AM the next morning. The sergeants were the key. They were firm and sometimes harsh. But they were the most caring and wise counselors. They were people who CARED. They were parents, brothers and sister. I had previously thought them to be inhuman robots programmed to destroy. They were vital to my success. They guided me, like a mare supervising her newborn foal take its first shaky steps. By the time graduation swung around, I was the equivalent of Sea biscuit. Thanks to Grizzly Youth Academy, I graduated with honors. I got a High School Diploma. I was valedictorian with a scholarship from Merril Lynch.

I learned so much more than math and essays. I learned so much about myself that I could have never learned on my own. I actually had a passion for learning and knowledge. I also learned that I can succeed in anything I choose to do. I always had to aptitude to success, just not the proper attitude to execute. My poor attitude made me think that success was impossible. I used to read the local paper all about seniors who graduated with scholarships, and at least 50 Ivy League Schools drooling over them. I read about them enviously. I thought that I could never possibly be one of those kids. Thanks to Grizzly, I got to see my name in the local newspaper recognizing me for my achievements in high school. My dream came true. The happiness was like eating ice cream for the first time after being in Grizzly without it for so long. But this feeling will linger with me forever. I will never forget was Grizzly has done for me.

It is for this reason, that programs like Grizzly are VITAL. They should not even be a question that is debatable. If lives could be changed, and hope restored both in parents and failing students, then we are one step closer to making this world a better place. It is the hope in the youth that carry them to success in their careers and futures. To let their situational problems extinguish the passion for life is a crime. Everyone has a constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Grizzly made my life what it is today, gave me freedom from despair, and has given me limitless horizons to happiness.

Cadet Derek Sisting