-Logan
Ames
Being connected to me is not about being popular. It's about
finding unfamiliar people and making lifelong acquaintances. I'm the one to
choose a few good friends over many strangers who I don't know anything about.
It’s more than being just. It’s about being who you are, not who the world
wants you to be. We are here, at this exact moment, at this exact situation
that we are in to overcome our obstacles, to be who we want to be and go where
we want to go. Not only because that’s what we want but also because that’s
what being connected means at crossroads.
Each and every
individual at crossroads at one point or another wanted to be something that
the outside world told us we couldn’t do. Many of us know what the hurt of
being shut down by the closest friends and family feels like. That’s why we are
different here. Crossroads is not a place of dreams. It’s a place of goals that
our peers and staff are more than willing to support and encourage each and
everyone to make and or go out and do what it takes to be who it is we want to
be. We are all connected even if we don’t all know one another because at any
moment you can ask advice or help from any one of our peers and be greeted with
generosity about it. We all have ups, downs, and life changing turn
arounds, but the students we are connected to will always have time to help or
support you. And it's the time we all share and embrace together that will be a
life long lasting memory that truly, connects us all.
-Dakota Daily
Being connected means your apart of something, a family, a group,
or even a school. Your roll in it is important, even if you don’t feel like it
in the moment. You can be connected by taking action when you see something bad
happening, like someone getting bullied. Even just complimenting someone when
you notice there not having such a good day. Being connected is having the
ability to be yourself because your comfortable with the people you surround
yourself with. Not everyone is good at incorporating connectivity into their
lives, maybe they don't have a secure friend group, or maybe they have troubles
with trusting people. You never know what someone has went through or is going
through in that moment, so being nice instead of discouraging them for not
being so involved shows how you’re connected to your environment and the people
in it. It's hard for teens nowadays to feel real connections with friends or
people at school because their life revolves around how others perceive them,
in real life or over the internet. It's hard to show your true colors when you
feel your always being judged for it. But being connected is so much more than
snapchat or how many friends you have, it's about your capability to interact
and have healthy relationships with people from different backgrounds
(religion, ethnicity, the hardships they have faced throughout life).
-Brooklyn
Bogart
