Meet Frank!

“Hi! I’m Frank, I’m 12 years old and live at a shelter in Tijuana but I’m not from here.

I live with a bunch of other children. We have teachers who come and teach us here at the shelter because we can’t go to a normal school. It’s safe here. Thank God.

One of our classes is in technology. The people in the purple shirts come to teach us that class. We use laptops and have a very cool teacher. When we had our first class I didn’t know if I was going to do good because I don’t like to sit for very long and I don’t know how to read well or pay attention to just one thing.

Something that helps me in the classes is that I can help everyone else with their work. It’s easier than doing it myself because I understand how to do things but I really don’t like writing. Sometimes we work in groups and the teacher says I shouldn’t do all the work so then I explain to the others in my group how to do it and we make a great team. I like working in groups because when the teacher sees it is hard for me to do something, he always waits for me until I finish. But when I work with someone it’s a lot easier. My favorite part is explaining to everyone step by step what they need to do for the activity because sometimes they don’t understand or they need more instructions.

I know the adults at the shelter were afraid I wouldn’t like the technology class and I see how they get surprised when I tell them a new thing I learned. Never mind! THAT’S my favorite part!

Now I understand how the internet works and that makes school work a lot easier. I also help the caregivers when they ask me to install a new device around the shelter if they don’t know how to set it up. Sometimes I even help them with their cell phones. Adults are funny. They don’t know anything about technology.

I also like the classes because everyone says I’m very good at it and I think it’s true. I don’t really like school because I’m not very good at it. But my technology teacher says that I’m the best in the class because I’m the first to start and I even ask to do more, like helping someone else or making music. I don’t like reading and writing things but I just do it because I like using the computer.

I don’t know if I want to continue in the classes because they might be too hard for me in the future but I do want to make a video game with the characters I made and my drawings and create my own game like we do in the classes but way cooler.

When I grow up I want to be an engineer, a soccer player or a boxer. Or maybe a pilot but because I don’t like reading. I’m pretty sure I’m going be a professional soccer player though.”