Josh Rodrigues (Juntos participant)
I knew 100% that I would not pass high school when I was in middle school. My grades were terrible. I didn’t really know what to do about it. Then I started 9th grade, and my grades were still bad. College was definitely an uncertainty. That’s when my family heard that Juntos was starting. I remember thinking, “Oh, nice, maybe this will actually give me a chance.” After the first meeting, I felt better. They started talking to us about what steps to take, and I learned that it’s not that hard to improve your high school grades, and get into college if you actually try.
The second semester of my freshman year is when I started pushing myself, telling myself “I can do this. I can do this.” This year I’m getting the best grades of my entire life – right now I have six A’s! I have a lot of plans and goals now. I will graduate high school with either a regular or an advanced diploma. I’d love to be a robotics engineer. I am interested in OSU, Stanford, or the University of Phoenix. OSU has great engineering programs and forestry and a really cool robotics team.
It has been great for my whole family to focus on our education together. The people who run Juntos have become close friends. They communicate with us a lot and help us with our dreams. My dad is even taking classes now – he wants to own his own business. All of us are taking more classes and doing more programs for success. I don’t know what options there would have been for me without this program. I am forever grateful.
https://create.osufoundation.org/juntos
