Jamal

Jamal is beginning to feel pressure from his mother to choose the college that will offer him a basketball scholarship, but that doesn't have a great math program! He thinks he wants to go to college and study to be a math teacher. He thinks that basketball, while fun, won't give him the long-term career he wants. Jamal knows his mom wants the best for him so he decides to sit and talk to his mother after work one day about his desire to teach.

Mom understands, but she still thinks that basketball is a better choice. She believes that college may afford him the opportunity to go to the pros before he is a junior or senior. She sees a lot of benefit in his playing basketball professionally over time. While Jamal respects his mom's ideas, he decides that he will wait until he is given a choice that he wants. Jamal knows, ultimately, Mom will support his final decision.

Ivan

Ivan's mother notices that he is leaving the house extra early on a Saturday and asks where he is going. Ivan is afraid to tell her, because he thinks she'll think he's betraying the family by seeking out information on college. College is not something he thinks his family values and he is scared this will cause his mother more financial worry. But he tells her anyway, and he is surprised at how proud of himself he feels telling her that he is going to a workshop on college, and then going to work so he can bring home more money to the family.

To his surprise, his mother starts to cry. She tells him she is very proud and that she never dreamed he would want to go to college. She gives him a reassuring hug and tells him to hurry so he won't be late for the presentation. When he got to the school, he found his girlfriend waiting for him in the hallway. He felt a sense of support and a sense of a future he had never felt before. After the presentation, he hopped back on his bike and got to the restaurant right on time. He was greeted by his boss, who seemed glad to have him there for an extra shift on a Saturday. He realized he had a lot more support than he thought.

Danny

Danny has a full week of finals coming up and he is really overwhelmed by all the studying he has to do. He has worked really hard to pull his grades up but the grade he gets on his final will have a big impact on his overall grade. Danny is feeling a lot of pressure to do well and has been spending a lot of time studying. Because Danny has been feeling really stressed about his finals, he has had a hard time concentrating on his work and instead spends his time worrying about his grades. Danny realizes however that all he can do at this point is work really hard to prepare for his tests.

He also reminds himself that he is there to learn, not just to memorize the material and this helps Danny to think about how to study. He writes out what he needs to do in order to prepare for each class and makes a study schedule for himself so that he gives himself enough time to prepare for each class. Danny promises himself that when he is done with finals he will treat himself to a fun night out with his friends and a whole Sunday of lying around watching football. Having a short-term goal in mind and making a schedule for himself so he doesn't feel so overwhelmed helps Danny to feel organized and not so bogged down.

Elena

When Elena and her little sister returned home from the movies, they found their mother crying at the kitchen table. As her sister went immediately to comfort their mother, Elena noticed some things were different around the house. The TV was gone, one of the doors was broken, and some plates were smashed on the floor. Seeing that Elena had noticed this, Elena's mom explained, “Dad is gone.” She gently explained to the girls that for a long time, she was aware that their father had been seeing other women and drinking heavily. It came down in a huge argument that evening while the girls were out, and their father had decided to collect some of his things and left.

That night, Elena took charge and decided to make dinner. After her little sister had gone to sleep, Elena and her mother sat quietly in the living room. Elena's mother broke the silence telling Elena how lucky she felt to have her as a daughter and apologized deeply for being so absent. She explained she had been working extra jobs and shifts knowing their father would eventually leave. She even told Elena she had been saving some extra money for her “nursing school fund”. Though it was a sad night, a part of Elena never felt closer to her mother. She felt lucky and loved.