Literacy Links

Success Stories

A Second Chance? I’ll Take It!

by Francisco Lemus
Harris County Department of Education, Adult Education Division

My name is Francisco Lemus. I am from a country where everything was different than here, but that was then and this is where I am now. My story began just like many immigrants like me who came for a better life and had dreams, but also lost a part of them in their mother countries. For some, for me, in some ways when I thought life would begin, life ended because I didn’t want and didn’t know how to take the road to happiness in a new country. Let me tell you something, the success I can write about to you today did not begin as a success story at all. My despair did not start to take the road of success until I started taking classes at the Irvington Learning Center through the Harris County Department of Education and a positive change started to take place in all aspects of my life. It is not easy to come to a new county, I was used to my life and this was new and unfamiliar territory. People like me before immigrating think that coming United States of America that life is only about working and making more money. Some people never realize that by attending school you really start to find ways to change your life and that money is not all there is to living. Here in the United States of the America you have a chance to give yourself and your family a chance to really change, but only if you are willing to take the risk will the opportunities come your way. It will not happen just because you think about it or wish it to be so.

Since I have started attending classes here at the Irvington Learning Center, my life has newly found friendships, love, honesty and especially wisdom. I encourage others to take advantage of this opportunity for yourselves and for your family. Tell everyone you know… your friends and any one else who will listen. People who are thinking that spending the time it takes to learn in school is a waste of time and that making money is everything are wrong. Make the time! If I can do it, you can do it, OK.

I am proud to say Irvington Learning Center is my school, because it is here in this school that I am my intellect and knowledge is cultivated with my teacher’s help and the support of my class. Thank you Barbara Phillips for caring enough to let me share this story. Today I feel like the greatest poet when I can tell you my “success story.” In this school I was reborn, because before I was dead among the living. I did not understand this new era in my life when I came here. I was scared. This new generation frightens me (let me tell you I am not really that old). But because I was willing to learn and teachers in adult education are willing to teach, I learned that the beauty and potential for a good life in the United States of America begins with me and now I feel whole and alive instead of half dead and incomplete. Time is scarce for me. Just like others, I work at night I come to school in the morning without much sleep. I now realize that coming to school is very important over all other things (drugs or drink etc., etc.). Before, my body was feeling old, and all I wanted was to get into bed and sleep. Now, one hour after I finish my work, I feel like the youth of a child running to get to school in the morning. I am not tired anymore, and I don’t feel so old. My heart that was once losing power, now feels very happy and at peace in my soul. I have renewed faith now and each morning I give thanks to God for one more day.

I have told you about how life has changed for my inside. Now let me tell you about some of the changes I have experienced on the outside. I live by example to my family. Where once our friend’s names were Jose, Maria, Claudia, Angel, Oscar and Miguel now they are joined by names like, Scott, Holly, John, Inger, George and Abraham. My neighbor is a white person, and he told me how happy and proud he feels about what I am doing by coming to the school to learn English. In my job everything is different my boss can tell me in a more friendly way what I have to do because he isn’t frustrated because of a language barrier. Now I am looking for better position where I can help others person too because I really do want to.

My first time attending classes at the Irvington Learning Center was two years ago. I was not really happy about it, but I was willing to try. My friend had come here and he learned a lot English, so I knew it could be done. I just didn’t know if I could do it, but I knew how important it was to try. Now I’m the one saying, “come with me, in the school we can learn together and everything will be different and better for us. Just try to think like me and imagine how much better it is to live in the United States of America and have all the advantages like I do now.”

In just two years everything is different for me! Before, my life was crazy all the time and now I have more control over it. Maybe you can do it in less time than me! But doing it is not possible (nothing is) unless you try. I am not a perfect person, but I am not making as many mistakes now. Sometimes it is still hard for me to say no to a party, but I do. Given the choice, I choose school where I am happier and sustain myself further than the party will. This school is making me into a better person, and I am doing good things. I was given another chance to grow up, and I am taking it. I am making wrong into right, and I am making a difference. So, this is my story and this is my thanks to Barbara Phillips and all my teachers at the Irvington Learning Center. Also, I want to say one more time, “thank you” to United States of America and to all the people who gave me the chance to write this story. One day, if you will permit me, I will write an even greater story. So, this is not goodbye only the first chapter of my lifelong story that being an adult learner inspired. So instead, I’ll end with, “I’ll see you later.”