in these hands - Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston

(left to right) yawkey club of roxbury alumni travis pettus and Jakeen cobb,
who was named the club’s 2008 youth of the year.
“With all that happened in my life, i still manage to keep my
head and family together. this journey helped me change my
life so much. i’m on the right track and i want to stay on it.”
– Jakeen cobb
read Jakeen’s story on the next page
“
boys & girls clubs of boston 2008 annual report page 5
The people you most depend on to support you at
important times of your life aren’t guaranteed to be
there. unfortunately i found this out the hard way
when i lost both of my parents. although this would
throw a lot of people off track, i didn’t let it stop me
from doing the right thing. now i am at an important
time of my life and i have to find my inner strength
and face it without my parents’ support.
My mother died of alcohol problems when i was 11
years old and just three years later my father died
following an illness. My mother had given birth to
seven boys and four girls. i’m the seventh oldest and
i have been helping take care of my four younger
siblings since i was young. it was extremely hard for
me to get over my parents’ deaths, but it was even
harder for me to face my new responsibilities. i had
to adapt so fast that i really didn’t have time to enjoy
my childhood. i had to make sure that my siblings’
homework was done, that they took showers and
brushed their teeth, and that their clothes were ironed
for the next day. i had to walk them to the bus stop
and pick them up.
everything changed on January 24, 2003. i still
remember it was a cold winter night and my brother
was hanging outside the house with a couple friends
around midnight; i was sleeping and then suddenly
i heard gun shots. i jumped up out of my sleep, so
scared. My sister got up and heard my brother in the
hallway screaming for help, but it was too late. before
she could get to him, the police were dragging his
body out the door. i saw my brother lying on his back
with bullet holes in his neck and stomach. i feel bad
for my nephew because he never really got a chance
to know his father, who was murdered because he had
been involved in a gang when he was younger. after
that happened i knew that the streets aren’t the way
to live life. i didn’t want to follow his footsteps and be
involved in a gang.
i was so terrified for so long after that happened
thinking that someone was coming after my family.
i started to give up on everything. i wasn’t motivated.
i felt stressed out all the time. i lost focus on my future.
this is what i was going through coming out of middle
school on my way to high school.
During my sophomore year, i began to realize that i
had to set a good example for my brothers and sisters
because they were looking up to me. i started to make
an impact on my siblings in a way i didn’t even notice
at the time. i started working harder in school and
bringing home good report cards. it rubbed off on
them and they started to bring in good grades. My
little brother and i have this competition to see who
can get the most trophies. i’m winning so far; i have
18 and he has seven. i believe he’s going to beat me
real soon if he keeps working hard.
What made me different from the rest of the crowd
was how i occupied my time after school. to stay out of
trouble i was involved in numerous activities including
football, basketball and counseling at the yawkey
boys & girls club. after two years on my school’s
Varsity football team, i became team captain – not
only because of my talent, but because of my
leadership skills. playing sports for my last three
years helped me mature on and off the field.
a place that helped me grow up was the boys & girls
club. it was like a second home to me. if i ever had a
problem i could go there and the staff would treat
me like their own son. i loved going there after school
because i would meet new people every day; it was a
place to do my homework, play basketball, and many
more things. it was a place where i just felt safe and
had so much fun every day that i would forget about
how bad my life was sometimes. this place opened my
eyes to a lot of things, especially college. last year i
went on a historically black college tour with the club.
it was a great experience to see college life outside
of boston, and it’s something that i could see myself
doing in a couple years. i plan to stay for a year or two
at Massbay, where i am now, and then transfer so i can
get my college degree.
life can be difficult sometimes, but that’s the way it
is. i have learned from the mistakes and experiences
i had in the past. some things, you just can’t take for
granted because tomorrow is not promised to be the
same as it was yesterday. but life goes on!
”