Do you know what is terrifying? Terrifying. Growing up. For real.
Growing up is scary. So here at SamJack, I'm trying to think of the ways to take listeners into that growing up. Experience. Experience the kid in today's world becoming an adult.
Especially right now. Especially right now in the San Francisco Bay area, California, where tech bazillionaires literally step over homeless people on their way to Sunday brunch. I've seen it. What's it like when that world barrels down on you like a not too distant NAT truck?
So here's what we did. We went to Mission High School. It's a school right in the middle of this crazy time and place. And yeah, it's a school that's got both wealth and poverty side by side.
We chose it because more than anything, though, it's a school with a lot of heart. Now a team SNAP producers followed three seniors at Mission High School for a year as they hurtled toward adulthood. I cannot wait for you to hear this. Step up.
I am walking up to Mission High School and kids are leaving. Lots of blue jeans, lots of tank tops, lots of candy. And I'm looking for Chandra, who is my friend who works down in the wellness center. Hey.
Oh, hello. How are you? Our friend Chandra Shivakumar runs the wellness center here in Mission High. And we go down to with the wellness center.
Yeah, it's going down. It's a place down in the basement where kids come if they're feeling overwhelmed or they're having trouble at home. Wellness. Down this door, there's a room full of thrift store couches, punching bag, fresh food on a desk, a bag of condoms.
Outside counselor's door, you've got this nice sign here. Looking for someone who will listen and you need someone to talk to. The wellness program is here and that's you covers that for. They have a mindfulness club and a surf club.
Charger has worked for 10 years to make this place that helps kids feel safe and supported. There's always some kids down here hiding for a few minutes from the world, eating junk food and joking with counselors. He introduced three snapdragos and producers to three kids that are kind of, well, miss center super friends. Kids who have had some serious trauma thrown at their young lives and who have fought back to keep on track.
We're gonna follow these three kids through their whole senior year as they cross over from kids to adult and get ready to step out into San Francisco. That's moving very quickly at a time when making it seems particularly daunting. Here are the morning announcements. Bling bling.
Tutoring is happening today after school in round 322 from the wrestling coach. Okay, so our first kid, Damaris, is the poster child in Mission High School. Really? There's a poster in one of Mission's hallways.
It's a head out of Damaris for these leadership. She's also captain of the big team and president of the Blackstone Union. But she's not just some goody two shoes. I'm over here, like, I gotta be a bitch and be nice.
No. Our producer at Dizza Egan spent the year with her. Damaris is outspoken, and she wears her hair natural in a teeny weeny Afro. I love to laugh.
I love to smile and, you know, do what a teen does. Ooh, doo, doo. Oh, you jacking it. Ooh.
Damaris has the two best friends, and they always meet up at lunch because Damaris is often too busy with clubs or work after school. Ever since she was a little girl, Damaris has wanted to be a lawyer. So college is a really important first step for her. She's basically crafted a master plan.
College, then law school, then success. So this year, senior year, is everything. Truth be told, I just want good grades, get my life together, and get the help out of California. I want to go to school on the East Coast.
I think it's good to go out and explore somewhere different, somewhere that you're not so accustomed to. Damaris has lived in San Francisco her entire life. She lives in an affordable housing complex with her mom, dad, and neighborhood called Potrero Hill. The neighborhood is gentrified.
It's the kind of place where you can get a $16 cup of coffee. And Damaris doesn't see herself here anymore. I'm tired of San Francisco. People say, oh, well, you know, there's a big economic boom going on, and, you know, there's just so many opportunities.
But it's like, I'm not a techie. I want to have a career where I can go out there and, you know, actually make change. Like, that's who I am. Like, I feel like San Francisco can't really help me achieve that goal.
Like, we can afford nothing if we want to stay home. You know, it's just. Can't get no jobs. Like, it's like, bleh.
But in order to leave San Francisco, Damaris needs to get a scholarship to a good college on the East Coast. It's pretty much all she ever talks about that and how she's so afraid of getting stuck here in the city. That community College is not an option for her. All this pressure and having to think about college and what you want to do, but also maintain what's going on here in high school.
It's stressful as hell because then you're like, I can't bounce it all at once. She's got all these people rooting for her, and she's terrified of letting them down, especially her mom. She's hoping Damaris will be the first in the family to go to a four year college. She's always been adamant on, like, going to college, going to school, like doing something productive.
But there'll be moments where she was like, no, don't work the rest of your life like me and your sister. You need to get out your mom's house. Looking at my family, seeing how everybody's just working for their lives, or, you know, saying how everybody's just stuck there is pressure involved, you know, because I want to do better. Like, I want to make my mom proud, you know, I want to make my family feel proud.
Trying to live up somebody else's expectations. Not easy. Marisa's mom got pregnant young, and it become like a stereotypical thing. My dad was like a paralegal, and her family was getting by.
But at some point, her dad felt like he just wasn't making quite enough money, especially with family to support in San Francisco. So he made a choice. He pulled in a legal side hustle, and he landed in jail. My dad was in and out of jail a lot, and I was just, you know, with that narrative of like a single mom trying to do good for her kids, and Maris is trying to do good for her mom.
So what does that look like, trying to do good for her mom? Yeah, well, she gets good grades, she gets decent grades. She does all these extracurriculars, and then she's got to make money, so she makes all her own money herself. So she has a job on top of it?
Yes. Yeah. See, I feel like going to school full time and doing a bunch of extracurriculars, that's almost too much. I don't know how you have a job on top of all of that.
Yeah, it's definitely a lot for her. Is the case looking streaky? Because I feel like it is. All right, hold on.
It's after 10 on Wednesday night. Damaris is polishing the ice cream case at by Rye Creamery, an ice cream parlor next to Mission High. She's just about to finish her shift. Damaris is working five nights a week.
She gets off around midnight, and class starts Every morning at 8am I can't be too Mac. And I put myself in this predicament. I was being greedy. I said, I want me a fatter paycheck.
So I decided to work Monday to quietly. Damaris needs the money she has to pay for the sat, the act, and her college applications. She's also saving up for college itself. Remember, Damaris is still 17.
I feel angry when you have to pay all this money and put in all this time and effort to apply for college and do what's necessary. It's not even guaranteed that you're gonna get in. You're overwhelmed, you're exhausted, you're tired. It's like, what am I doing?
Are we good? Yeah, we got the okay. We can get the hell out of here. It's almost midnight, and normally Damaris walks the one mile from the ice cream shop to her home.
But tonight, I offer her a ride home. She's reluctant to accept. She doesn't want to be a burden. Seatbelt on.
Oh, no. Thank you for the ride. I really appreciate it. So normally you walk home, you feel safe.
Like, I don't know, just recently. There's, like, a lot of prostitutes. And, like, I look at stuff like that. Like, I look like the homeless camps, like little tents, that being, you know, where I walk at, walking past these tent cities.
At a time when she's thinking so intensely about her own future success and failure, Renera's mind starts to race. I look at them and it's. It's one of those things where it's like, I don't want to end up like this. I don't like seeing this.
I don't want to be around this no more. What I was worried would happen did. Daenerys gets so busy with work, she just needs to beat me. And she can't keep up with her schoolwork, and she just starts to crack a little.
And then a lot. I had counselor saying it makes sense. Like, you're such a smart girl. Like, you just have a 4.0, or, you know, your tennis needs to be better, and, you know, you could do better.
Like, why don't you like this? And, you know, there's that part of looking at my family, seeing how, like, everybody's just working for their lives. Or in September, she was able to rattle off exactly what she wanted. And now, a few months later, she seems scattered, exhausted and unsure of herself.
I thought senior year was going to be, you know, we're all happy, we're good to go. Like, we're motivated and Then the envelopes start trickling in, and they're small. I got rejected from UC Berkeley, ucla, csu, Long beach, damn near Sac State. You know, just little things like that, these rejection letters, and I cannot get scholarships and stuff.
My main fear is that I'm not like that. I'm not stable. So when Ameris's 18th birthday comes around, she's not in the mood for any kind of attention. It's your birthday.
How do you feel? I don't know how to feel. I mean, I'm 18. That's.
Oh. Like, I'm pretty much a young adult now. Like, I'm in the weird world. So it's been like a rough month and a half.
I didn't do everything I wanted to plan to do. It was just, you know, I felt that, you know, what's the point anymore? You know? You get to that stage where it's like, damn, what really have I accomplished in life?
And I'm like, damn. Later that day, I walk with the mare into her economics class. Happy birthday, Damaris. 18 today.
Is it true? Why do you do that? Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you by the time they end the song, Damaris has a grin on her face. She looks a little embarrassed, but also appreciative.
The next time I'm at Mission High, I pass by that poster in the hallway, the one that's for you, leadership, with the headshot of Damaris. Well, just below the poster is the door to the college counselor's office. And when I look inside, I see Damaris just. She's crying.
What's going on? We're almost done. I don't need nothing. I gotta get the money.
I'm gonna be broke. I don't go to prom no more. I'm so tired. What happened to Damaris?
She's gonna fail AP Environmental Science. Can she, like, beg her teacher to take makeup work? No, the teacher is not taking any more makeup work. So what can she do?
She doesn't really know what to do. So she's at her counselor's office right now trying to fig she can drop course or any other options. But really, this counselor, Daphne Davis, she's her last hope. What does it mean?
If she doesn't buy out science, she might not be able to go to college. You got to remember, all these other students out here looking at you. That's why I'm going give it to you. Sometimes you're not going to like what I say to you, but you know it's going to Be real.
Okay, so that's never going to change, no matter if you call me and you're 52 and I'll be 35. Of course. You said what? All right, I'm sitting this off right now regarding AP Environmental Science, and hopefully they will get me okay on this one.
Okay, thank you so much. You are very, very welcome, babe. Love you. Damaris walks out of Ms.
Davis's office into the hallway. Everybody else is doing this and that. Or Instagram is like, people going to prom. I'm not going to prom.
You know? Or then it's like people excited for graduation. Hell a know she was going to graduate on time. You know, little things like that.
We just sit here like, okay, okay. Like, life is not what I expected it to be right now. On top of all that, Damaris worries that the few colleges she got into will take away her acceptance letter. When snapdudgeon returns.
The marriage has one foot out the door, but no idea where she's going. I will find out what happens when a high school student has no place to call home. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Senior Year mixtape episode.
We're taking you inside the world of three graduating seniors at San Francisco's Mission High School. They're gearing up to launch into a pretty terrifying world, but in the meantime, we have to fight off your own demons. Snap in. In last year's yearbook, there's a junior voted most likely to be a movie star.
In the yearbook picture, Branson's looking at the camera skeptically with arched eyebrows and pouty lips. He's hard to miss. But he had a problem that year, his junior year of not showing up at school. Chandra was actually kind of searching for him for weeks.
And all of a sudden, one day, he shows up in my office like, oh, how are you? How's it going? He's like, well, it's not that great. You know, I was just.
I was just on Bart, and there's this jerk on Bart calling me all these names. You know, like, racist, homophobic stuff. And then he said, oh, yeah, but that's not even the bad part. He's like, well, the same guy stabbed me.
I'm okay. The paramedics showed up. They bandaged me up real good. Here, look, here's the.
You know, here's the cut. Brandon came out really early. He was in seventh grade. So whether it's at school or on the train, he's pretty used to taking crap.
For being gay or for being black for both. And he's used to Fighting back. This year, his senior year, our producer Eliza Smith met him in September. Do you feel like you hear more further comments from the young freshmen who come in too?
Not a lot. No. It's more like they're using like gay as a slur. So how do you deal with that?
He hear that in the holly. Okay, what you guys are saying is not cool. How is he doing forever? How are you?
As Brandon walks through the halls and out onto the front steps of Mission High, he waves at almost everyone and calls to them. Sometimes he's teasing, other times he's yelling out a compliment. You know everybody. I hire people.
You just said hire like 10 people to hallway only. The problem is I'm really bad at names. I'm so bad at names. Brandon is one of the most popular kids at Mission High.
His classmates love him and he's a favorite with teachers even though he doesn't always get his homework done. He has these perfectly round oversized 90s glasses that I'm sure don't have prescription lenses. He flips his baseball caps inside out. It's okay.
You're just like way too cool for these people here. No, not at all. I don't like that at all. It's actually not a set.
Another guy, Bill, Bill Branson's, actually had a very tough couple years. Two years ago, when Branson was a sophomore, he'd been living at his stepdad's house with his mom and siblings. Then his mom and stepdad broke up. All of a sudden, Branson and his little brother and his little sister and his mom were homeless.
I was really not happy about that. It was tough. Was very, very tough. First they moved in with family members staying only for short spurts so that they wouldn't burn anyone.
They slept in living rooms on couches. There's no space for us but taking up a lot of space while we're taking food. So there's a newest place. A place and twice in San Francisco, you need to put down at least $5,000 for a one bedroom apartment.
That's first and last month's rent plus a security deposit. Brandon's mom was looking for a place for her and her kids. She had a job but couldn't get enough money together. He finally moved into the shelter.
We definitely didn't follow them like the people who were supposed to help me. Guys going through was definitely not helping us. Her favorite food and it didn't feel right. It felt more like a prison than anything.
I had no right to say and not killed me. And I was Always I wanted to be on my phone, I wanted to calm down the only people that I would talk to. But I didn't care. Cause the shelter literally slept in the exact same room.
We would just hear crying, we hear people arguing or something. We just hear people just conversating. He only had the clothes that would fit in a suitcase under his bed. And there was no laundry, so it was hard to stay clean.
They gave us like five minute showers, which was like, not enough. And then there was the uncertainty. Brandon didn't know when they would find a home again. They lived in the shelter about half a year until Brandon's mom found them an apartment in an affordable housing complex.
He had his own shower, his own room, his own space. Again. I was just so used to just having to be in this place that I was like, okay, how long I stay here? How long be here until something happens and we're back on the street?
So for a while, I was on edge. I didn't even want to, like, call my room a room because of that. I want to have my own spot and just be comfortable. Like, I want to have my own nice stuff.
For me, it doesn't have to be great. It's just, I want my own stuff. I want my own place to call myself home. Mission High is as close to a home as Branson has right now.
He's been homeless, he's been harassed on the street, stabbed. He's always been able to come back to Mission High, but he knows it's coming to an end. Me and my best friend had like a list of things that we want to get done before high school to end. So, like, it was just like, get an apartment, have a job.
I was super, super, super afraid of college. So I'm like, I'm worried about, I don't know how much paid for, I don't know how much this and that. I'm like planning a senior year, but probably just turning 18 and what? I have some emotions about it.
I'm like, okay, that's a big number. That's a legal age of adulthood. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. Brandon is literally taking notes on how to be an adult.
I wasn't supposed to, like, take notes with my mom, like, life lessons. Like, I know my training agent. I know what's up, what's insurance? How does that work out?
Okay, explain that to me. So I get money, get my insurance. And it would say, Eliza would see Brandon about every two weeks. And every time they talked, he would tell her how freaked out he was about turning 18.
And then, before he was ready, the day came. I didn't want Branton to show up at school on his birthday feeling anxious. I wanted to do something nice for him. So on his birthday, March 24, I got him a cake and Chandra and I put together a makeshift party.
Bounty Wellness. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. We didn't have any forks or knives, but it didn't matter.
The kids were already attacking the cake with their hands. There was chocolate frosting everywhere. Daenerys comes down to Wellness to celebrate with Brandon. She gives him a hug and hands him a Sunday from the by, right where she works.
You've got a. You better drink some water when you die. We go cross some cake. There's hella chocolate and cake.
Can you believe it? You're 18. That's fine. Branton's 18.
He didn't change overnight like he thought he would. In fact, he's just as anxious as he was yesterday. So what's Branton's plan? Is he college?
He's queen college. Does he just go to work for a little while? He says he wants to go to college. He says he wants to go away to college.
So sometimes he wants to go to UC Santa Cruz, sometimes he wants to go down to ucla, and he's talked a couple times about when the state school trips. So he's applying to those schools? He says he's applying. We don't know.
I haven't seen him fill out an application. And if you ask him, he just says, I'm applying, I'm doing it. And he kind of shuts down the conversation. The Steppest returns.
Will need a senior whose road to high school is longer and more dangerous than you could ever imagine. In fact, you're never going to whine about your life again when Snapdesm returns. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Snapdudgment.
The senior year mixed hit. We're Mission High in San Francisco, and we've introduced two Mission High seniors. Damaris, the poster child who's on the brink of failing AP Environmental Science, and Bryn, who's got all the charisma in the universe but is terrified of stepping out into the real world. But we've got one more suit for you.
Me. His name is Alex. In the Wilderness Center Mission High, there's usually some kids helping for free snacks, hiding from a class they just can't face. And there's usually a student crying to a counselor.
Upstairs, there's kids in classes or flirting in the hall, kids studying in the library. And there's Alex. Producer Liz Mack is gonna take it from here. I want this on in my back.
Okay. Back on the show. It's around three or four today, and Alex brings me to one of his most cherished high school hangouts. So tell me where we are right now.
We are the weight room at Mission High School. We're about to go crazy. Alex is a regular here. So regular that his classmates at Mission High actually call him the buff guy.
And he is this tough kid who goes through life kind of like weight. He list weights. He has this determination and laser focus. Today I'm going to do chest and legs.
I'm gonna work my thighs, so I'm gonna do some squats. Wait, you have a tattoo? Yeah, I got two. What does it say?
This is a quote. It says, I'm the architect on the future. This tattoo is huge. It's across his whole chest in cursive, and it says, I am the architect of my own future.
And it's kind of been a touchstone for Alex for the last four years. He's been living mostly on his own ever since he got here. And he's had to do everything by himself. Like, when I go with him to the orthodontist one day.
Alex is getting his braces checked. Today. He has to pay the balance for these appointments every month, but he's behind on his payments. Because you have a balance.
In order to see you, you better be current with that balance. Okay, so he puts down $500, half of it in cash. This isn't money from his mom or his dad. Alex pays for everything on his own.
It's only 200, like 180. So we can't go to high school. If you're wondering why a high schooler is paying for orthodontist bills by himself, it's because Alex is here alone. A few years ago, when he was 16, he came to the US from El Salvador.
He had no friends. He had no family he could count on, and he didn't spe English. While his classmates were worried about earning good grades and getting to college, he was trying to figure out how to make enough money to eat. I was doing that, like, I was just.
I was, like, trying to. Trying to get out of my situation, trying to get out of this life, trying to kill myself, basically, because I was like, why me? Why I'm having this life? After a year or two, he eventually made some friends, but they didn't get what he was going through.
They were high school kids, and this was Life and thought that being on his own with no adult telling him what to do sounded great. And I was like, no, that's not what, that's not, that's not what I want. You know, when I'm suffering though, like I gotta wake up every day to work and I come to school because I want to. Does it make you mad that you can't just be like a regular teenager?
Yeah, all the time. Yeah. And I have like a four years old life and I'm just 19. Alex just said he lives like a 40 year old.
He's only 19, but at the same time he also lives the life of a senior in high school. And this year things are waking up. Alex has best friend Jamie. He has a girlfriend at school.
And he started to plan out his future. He wants to go to college, he wants to become an engineer. But there's still this one thing. It's been over six months already.
Alex is waiting. After he came from El Salvador, another job, figured out the language and saved up. He got a lawyer and he filed paperwork to ask for asylum, basically to get permission to stay here in the US legally. What happens if you don't, if you get denied?
You don't think about it? Yeah, I don't know my double J. I don't want to think about it. It's not an option for me.
Well, I will try. If, you know I can get nothing that way, I will try another way. You know, I can get denied that way. I'll try it many ways.
I mean, I don't give up so easy though until I get it. There is no way this guy is going to casually give up and return himself to El Salvador. But understand why Alex is applying political status and why he won't give up. You have to know more about where he came from and how he got here.
A few years ago, Alex lived in El Salvador with his four younger siblings, his mom and his stepdad. They had just opened up an auto body shop. We were doing good like you. It was a small business and they had so little money that they split the shop in half.
The clothesline and hung a blanket over it. Alex and his family lived and slept in the back behind the blanket. And Alex's stepdad wasn't really the kind of guy you could rely on when it came to running the auto shop. He wasn't even showing off for days.
So Alex and his little brother Ronaldo started running the shop themselves. They manned the shop and fixed power steering. Kind of muddled their way through it. Alex was just 16 at the time.
He was actually there at the shop one evening when these men came in, like 5pm 5pm evening. These were gangsters saying that in order to protect the business, they need a tax from the auto shop. Basically, unless they paid out, the men would make trouble. Either you pay us or somebody or your family gonna die.
That point, I was only me there, right? All my family is behind the blanket. And because Alex was the only one there, they told him he was responsible. They said he had to pay them $300 a week, that's US dollars in order to stay alive.
So you were scared, like, what's gonna happen? Did you think you were gonna die? Yeah. Okay.
We're not this. That way we can get $300 a week every week. There weren't any other options. He had to escape to the US and his mom decided she was gonna go with him.
So the two headed north. The group crossing through Mexico. When they reached the Mexican TANF border, they tried to cross into the US through the woods. And there was hours of mourning.
Alex walked in a line of people. That's when they heard helicopters overhead. And the coyote, the one leading the group they were in saw blind people following him saying he don't check out. He told him to wait and then passed.
30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, two hours waiting there. And so the daytime is already like 8 in the morning. And then everybody starts saying they left, they left us. Anybody, like freaking out, like, what can I do?
They didn't know which way the border was and they were scared of getting caught by the agents on the patrol. So when they saw some heading their way, they ran. It was going crazy. Yeah, you see people running everywhere like little ants.
It was just like that. Crazy. So that's why I got separate with my mom. You have to imagine this panic and this confusion with all these terrified people running everywhere.
And in the commotion. Alex and his mom were split apart. Alex isn't sure how, but his mom managed to make it to San Francisco. Alex didn't.
At the border, he was taken to a sort of shelter in Harlington, Texas. He was 16 and he was alone. He was there for three months until the shelter managed to make contact with some family in the United States who Alex didn't even know. When Alex was released, he met up with his mom in San Francisco.
They were able to stay with distant family and started their life together here in the US his relatives wanted Alex to get a full time job so he could contribute to the household. But Alex wanted to get an education so he went to Michigan during the day and then work jobs at night, busing tables. And that's how life mistakes was. Until one day when his mom left.
She didn't need to tell Alex where. And soon after, his relatives told him he had to leave too. What do you miss most about your family? What do you mean?
I don't know. I never had one. I don't know. Just.
I'm just here by myself. But you really think you have no feelings about it? You don't feel like. You feel, like, mad at your mom or, like, sad or anything?
No. You mom. I don't even remember how mom died until you brought it out today. Alex told me once that he actually saw his mom on the street in San Francisco.
He says she saw him too. But they kept walking. They passed right by each other without saying hello. I asked him once what it's like to be without your family during the holidays.
So, like, what was your Christmas like last year? I was almost out, like in my room, and that's it slipping. What about the. The two.
The two years before that? Same thing? Yeah. By myself.
How do you feel about Christmas? Oh, I just. Yeah, I kind of be sad though. Like.
No, just face it. Christmas about a family, right? I don't got that. In the spring, Alex tells us he has noobs.
He got a letter about his immigration status. He says, okay. Your son, okay, Alex. He's mumbling, but the verdict.
Alex can stay. So what's it like to read that good copy release? I mean, best feeling ever. I don't know.
It's just. You're happy. Like, you're so happy. Like.
Like, let's say there's like. There's like, chances, opportunities, right, that you cannot take. You cannot take advantage of it because you don't got no papers, right? But when you got the papers, you got so much opportunities, like, you can do anything you want now.
I feel like I can do anything. So do you have it with you? I got my. I have my work permit.
What's it like to hold that? I can kiss it. Look, it's good. Now you know how many millions people want this.
And I got it, right? I like the feeling. I feel. He can get an id, a Social Security card, and he can apply for scholarships, which means he can go ahead with plans for college.
So with the big question settled, Alex can finally enjoy what's left of senior year. I'm at school with Alex, and he doesn't really seem to want to talk today. Is this a bad day for you? No, this is just a date.
Do you feel like talking? Today, it turns out his girlfriend is crying in the next room over, and he tells me they've been arguing a lot. That's when he gets this text. It's a paragraph long.
I hate you so much. Don't text me, don't call me. Don't do nothing at all. I don't want nothing to do with you, so please ask you never to approach me or speak to me ever again after this.
I won't get any text or nothing. Bye. What'd you just write after her goodbye, then? So you guys broke up?
Yeah, we broke up. Like, so now I got. I got to try plan B. What are you doing right now?
I'm going take somebody else for prom day. Prom, like two weeks. I got to be ready. Watch me.
Hello? Come here. Come here. Where you at?
Oh, I just wanted to talk about the. The prom thing. All right. Don't teach you up later.
Got prom date. Wait, you didn't even ask her? You don't hear what I said? I don't mean.
I'm not hard broken though, but like, come on, man, I got to keep going. I mean, breakouts break at right first. Yes. You decide if you want to be down the whole time for months, weeks and things, or you just keep going with your life.
I just keep going my life so I don't put myself in that situation. I'll be sad through the the last weeks of senior year, man. Come on, man. No, that's not going to happen to me.
Good morning. On the day of prom, I get a text from Alex. All caps. Help me, please.
His plan B has fallen through the last minute. His date wasn't allowed to go to prom. And because he doesn't have anyone else to ask, he asked me for help. Later that night, we meet up with him in front of the Presidio Golf Club.
He stepped out of his Uber. Okay, so we got a day for you. I got a date. Leo, this is Jasmine.
And here's where we took matters into our own hands. Liz asked around if anyone could find a date for Alex, and one of our producers, Jasmin Aguilera, said, sure, I'll go to prom. You know what? I forgot my question in at home.
I was in a rush. I fell asleep. Okay. All right.
You want to go in? Yeah, let's go. It's a little awkward, but here's Alex. A couple of months ago, he didn't know if he was legal to stay in the U.S.
now he's on the Dance floor of his senior prom with a radio producer following him everywhere, hanging onto his every word. After prom, seniors get swept up in the end of the year nostalgia. Everyone's feeling very big and full, and there's a very tender moment in life. Then they have to turn towards the door and make their first big adult decisions.
Damaris managed to drop the AP environmental science class, and one week before graduation, she picks a college. Notre Dame. Demure Dinamur. Notre Dame.
I think that's like, Notre Dame de Namur is a Catholic school with about 1700 students. It's not on the East Coast. It's just outside San Francisco. And it's the school that gave Damaris the most money.
I had to accept Notre Dame because it was like, yo, I'm not hearing nothing. I had to make sure I'm gonna be in college. So how do you feel about. Like, you were like, I want to get out of San Francisco.
Like, I mean, technically, you're kind of getting out, but, like, not that far. I'm irritated. Like, I wanted to leave California so badly, but it was like, you know what? I gotta feel at least somewhat blessed at the fact that I still got an opportunity to get my education, you know?
Cause it's like, I was not expecting to feel so uncertain, because ever since middle school, I knew what I wanted to do. Like, I'm gonna be a lawyer. Like, I'm gonna, you know, have a good life. I'm gonna have a family.
But as time progressed on and I seen what happened, you know, like, my own personal actions, it was like, oh, like, I'm not doing what I really said I was doing. My exit was not as graceful as I had plans for it to be. I tripped out the coop. Brandon got into one college, San Francisco State.
He sat with his acceptance letter for a month, unsure what to do. And in May, he picked up the phone and called his counselor at the college. He told her that even though he'd been accepted and he wanted to go, he felt like he just couldn't. And then she was like, I totally understand.
Like, this is where you can go to me in college. Oh, whenever you're ready at the moment, I can tell you're not. Like, you're not mentally prepared. No, I'm, like, telling her, yes, I'm not mentally prepared.
Do you wish you were going to college? Of course I do. I really wish I wasn't a mess right now and might not accept in the fact that I'm growing up. I'm a bird.
It's okay. It's okay, I'm a bird. What does that mean? Just like, you know how, like when, like when, like the time of adulthood.
I'm a. I'm a girl. Slowly take my time. I just want to take baby steps from here on out and hopefully for the best for me.
On the morning of graduation, the kids have come back down to the boneless stuff. They're giddy, drinking too much perfume, readjusting gowns and sashes, taking pictures. So I have on the African American student sash over a yellow Twinkie gown. I was standing by that this thing is in Tokyo.
So I'm feeling good. Like I'm ready to go. I just want to keep pushing. I'm ready.
I'm ready. Alex is here too, while Damaris and her friend are getting ready. The three of them are taking pictures together. Alex standing next to girls in high heels.
This is the end of high school. It's like, it's just. It's hard, though. It's hard for swing.
Were you ever like, I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it? Yep, most of the time, yeah. That's why I'm excited, though, because I made it. I'm happy because I made it on my own.
Tell me about Alex and the signs. Yeah, you know, it took me by surprise. And he came up and said, look, I'm hoping that some of you guys can make signs to me. I was like, signs for what?
You know, for graduation. I want signs. Signs that say, congratulations, Alex. And I thought, oh, wow, I have done this before, but I've never had a student ask for it.
And then I realized there's literally nobody else that is going to be there for him. For a 19 year old boy to come up and say, can you make a sign saying congratulations? Yeah, that was really sweet. I mean, there's no way we're going to mess that one up.
So proud of you, man. Look at you, ready to graduate. I got to mess up on a little bit, but I wanted you to have something at least. Some kind of sign.
Definitely. Yeah. That's all yours, man. Thank you.
We'll be holding up as you walk. Thank you. The kids pile into the elevator, which they haven't got to do until this moment because it's off limits for students. They push the button and they look up, waiting for the doors to close and the elevator to take them up to whatever comes next.
Bye, guys. Bye. Hurry up, Alex. Let's go.
Here are the morning announcements. Teachers and staff reminded us, please come down during your prep and CBT to take your pictures and get your IDs. Remember, the book club is meeting in the library every Wednesday at lunch. Read some really great books right now.
Also via 2 meeting after school. We're going to have these. My Spanish translation. Remember, we all love you all very much.
Have a great day. Okay, so first of all, a very special thank you to our heroes, the Maris, Alex, Brandon. Big thanks as well to Shandra, Shivi Kumar and Mission High principal Eric Duffert. We want to talk about heroes.
We want to talk about people walking to walk with these kids. Talk about people loving on these kids no matter what. That's what these folks do day in and day out. And we beg them.
We have pictures and whatnot. Stuff from the amazing Mission High School on our website, snapjudgment.org the original score for this hour was by Patton Cignino and Lindsay Gorion. The story is produced by Adeza Egan, Liz Nat, Eliza Smith, Mark Rustic and Anna Sussman. Yes, yes.
You want more storytelling that matters in this crazy world, Please understand there is more snap goodness where that came from. Subscribe to the amazing Snap Judgment podcast wherever you get your podcast or just go to snapjudgment dog. Big news. Snapdudgeon lives coming to Nashville and St.
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