Success Stories
A Change of Heart:
Kehinde's Story
Living in a neighborhood where violence and shootings were a daily occurrence, Kehinde had quit attending school and had an “it's-all-about-me" attitude when he arrived a Boys Town. Since that time, the love, support and encouragement he has received has resulted in a total change of heart. Kehinde returned to school, participated in sports, graduated from high school and went on to college. Best of all, his approach to life completely changed. It's no longer “all about him." Kehinde is focused on giving back to his friends, family and community, volunteering his time to help others. In his own words, “My path is to change the world."
Watch Kehinde's Story
Kehinde: I think it was my sophomore year, one of my close friends got shot and killed at a gas station, and I was here, you know, it broke me. I could have been in that same position.
Carolyn: His neighborhood alone people just, like, his age, his personality, 15, 20 kids being shot a day. We all just wanted him to, like, be alive, like, we didn't want him in danger.
Kehinde: I've been at Boys Town for four years. I had holidays and birthdays at Boys Town. I had my 16th birthday at Boys Town. I play football, I wrestled, I played basketball last year. I ran track too. I'm a peer disciple. I volunteer a lot on campus. My Family-Teachers encourage us to be out to the community, introduce ourselves to new people.
Kehinde: I was never a school kid. I was never at school. I just didn't like school period. So now I'm about to graduate high school.
Carolyn: It went from a very me, it's all about me, I'm the center of attention, to giving back to everybody. Very family-focused, friend-focused, and giving back to Boys Town, and just like, I don't know, he wants a future for himself and for his family. I don't see the little kid anymore I see this adult ready to be out there, and it's just amazing to see that.
Kehinde: I'm gonna be going to school, I'm going to college. I'll be majoring in early childhood education. I love kids. I wanna go on that because when I was a kid, I wanted to rush to be an adult. And I wanna let kids know, like, you do not wanna be an adult so early. You wanna take your time, be a kid, have fun, listen to your mom, listen to your dad because you don't know what's gonna turn out.
Kehinde: My path is to change the world. You know, we got our younger generation seeing my generation, you know, there's a lot of violence and stuff like that. So I want that younger generation to be able to like change that and see that we don't need violence to have a better outcome.
Kehinde: I'm excited. And I'm ready to go out into the real world. And I'm about to be an adult, you know. So, you know, I'm just, like, ready to take my steps.
