My name is Rebecca Ann Shields, and I’m 24 years old. My birthday is May 10, 1991, I’m a Taurus.
I have six kids: one set of twins named Elijah and Majestee, a second set of twins named Malachi and Destinee, Rebekah, and Anthony. Yes, I had two sets of twins back to back.
I was born in Harlem, but raised in the Bronx by my grandmother. I’ve been on my own since I was 16, and it has not been easy.
I guess you can say I was a troubled child.
I loved to have things my way. I didn’t care about what people were trying to tell me.
I started following the wrong crowd: drinking, smoking, and partying.
I went to high school at first, but after awhile I started to not care because I wanted to hang out with my friends and stay out late. I decided to drop out. My friends had dropped out so I figured I would too.
It was all fun and games at first, but then I started to become bored. I tried to go back to school for my GED; I realized that doing the same thing over and over every day was not me.
I wanted to change my life, but I found out that I was four months pregnant. That is when everything completely changed for me. Now it wasn’t just me I had to think about, and yet I still had to do everything on my own.
After I gave birth and recovered I had to focus on providing for my lil man, school wasn’t on my mind.
A year and a half passed, and I got pregnant again, but still no GED. After my last set of twins I decided to get my tubes tied, six kids was enough and still I had nothing going for myself. Even though I loved getting spoiled by my kids’ father, but it was time for me to think about myself.
I went online and came across Youth Action YouthBuild and applied. YouthBuild is helping me change for the better.
I want my kids to be proud of me. I want to make sure they make better choices than I did. After I get my GED I plan on going to college.
I want to open up my own child care, Becca Care. I love being in charge, so I might as well put that skill to use. I want to do something I can be proud of and that my kids can be proud of too.
I’m still on my own, but now it’s different. I have my own place, and I’m going to finish school.
That crazy stubborn child has grown into a young woman ready to live life up to her standards.