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Success Stories

Driven:
Gerald's Story

​​​​​Before coming to Boys Town, Gerald was “rough around the edges.” Living in an environment with a high murder rate, Gerald chose to come to Boys Town for a second chance at achieving success.

Watch Gerald's Story​

Gerald: People was dying left and right, the murder rate was like just going to the roof and my mother just didn't want to see me in no casket. I knew I had to make some type of decision.

When I came to Boys Town I was 14 years old.

Gerald before Boys Town, I was a little bit rough around the edges, I was always getting in fights. I was doing all the wrong things but expecting good stuff in return.

Since coming to Boys Town I learned that there is consequences to my actions, negative for negative actions and positive for positive actions.

So, I told myself I was gonna make better decisions. I was gonna play football, play sports and just try my best to stay focused.

Our coaches, I feel like they are the most supportive coaching staff that you can ask for.

They always making sure we working hard. And even though they're our football coaches, football actually comes last in our list. They want everything to be good at school, everything to be good at home, and if all that's looking good then they make sure we doing things right at football.

Since I came to Boys Town, I feel I've learn to just put in more effort. Like kinda, I was going with the motions back home. Just I wasn't a follower, I just wasn't a productive leader. I feel like I learned that I can be a leader for younger people or not even younger people, people my age, who just...who have the mindset that I had.

Boys Town is a place where you can come for second chances. When I first came I know I was kinda rough but, I would just like to say thank you for not giving up on me and giving me the chances that I needed to be successful.

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