One step closer to his lifelong dream of serving his country, Ronald can hardly believe that he has overcome so many obstacles to get to this point. He recounts that he came from a home of little means or opportunity. The youngest of five siblings, Ronald says he has never met his father and saw many of his siblings live a life on the streets and in the justice system. Ronald’s school years were fraught with physical trauma and he had little support or incentive to do well in school. One day, Ronald’s travels led him to a homeless shelter where he was referred to Champion Institute for mentoring and coaching support. After working to build his confidence and self-esteem, the mentors at Champion Institute helped Ronald land a job at the renown Methodist Hospital in the renown Houston Medical Center. Ronald continued meeting with his mentor and has been promoted and is being considered for another high-level position at the hospital.
Ronald has also shared his dreams of going to the United State NAVY with his mentor and has taken the ASVAB examination, a test that is required to get into the Armed Forces. When Ronald first took the ASVAB test, his NAVY dreams grew dim as recruiters advised him that his low score would take a considerable amount of time to improve. “The re-test reliability of this test is very high, and it is rare that someone could retake the examination and have a significant increase in scores.” This grim news did not stop Ronald and his Champion Institute mentor from a pursuit to improve his score. With the relentless encouragement of his Champion Institute mentor, Ronald worked day and night, building his math skills. From his income working at the hospital, Ronald set aside more than half his weekly salary to pay for help to improve his math skills. His recent score on the ASVAB showed an upswing of 10 points, an unprecedented increase in score on this examination, Today, Ronald is hopeful that his continued efforts to improve his score will pay off and he will soon be recruited to the United States Navy, serving in a medical capacity. Ronald says his efforts are reminiscent of the warrior that he one day like to to be when he is recruited to serve his country.
As with Ronald’s story, mentoring can be life-transforming. Champion Institute exists to mentor, coach, and train fatherless youth to win in life. For more information on how Champion Institute can help transform the life of a young person you know, please contact us at 713-955-4549.
“We build champions”