“March 4, 2016, was my last day sitting in a 6-by-6 cubicle at a job that is no longer fulfilling. With the support of my husband, I took a year off from looking for another same old job to be stuck at.

“During this time I did a lot of soul searching. I volunteered for a local Presentation Power event, listened to podcasts, and binge watched nearly every documentary on Netflix. ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ stood out above the rest. Jiro Ono, now a 93-year-old sushi chef, created his own legacy. People travel from all around the world to eat at his restaurant.

“I believe everyone has a purpose and a great story to tell. I just needed to figure out what mine was. With my attention to detail and wanting a creative outlet, my search led me to portrait photography.

“It’s not about creating a legacy for myself, but more of a photographic biography of a moment for the people I photograph. My goal is to convey an emotional connection between the subject and the viewer.

“Today, I am focusing on building my portfolio specializing in high school senior portraits, and in my spare time volunteering for The Baytown Project.”

— Olivia Garza

Olivia recently started taking photos to go along with some of The Baytown Project stories. You’ll begin seeing her work here very soon. For more information on her business, check out her website. She’s also active on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

The post Seeking fulfilling career, she turns to photography appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We met in high school. I had him in a couple classes, and we just started talking. Before long, we became real good friends. We would hang out together, usually riding around on our bicycles or playing video games. It was the ‘80s. If you didn’t have a car, that’s about all there was to do.

“Well, I didn’t see him at school for a few days. His mother worked there. So when I finally saw her, that’s when she told me. He committed suicide. He used a shotgun.

“It was about a girl, of all things. You know how people get so wrapped up in a boy or a girl, then they break up. When you’re so young, it can be pretty traumatic. Or, at least, you think it is. But at that age — he was only about 16 — you really don’t know anything.

“When you’re close to somebody like he and I were, it’s just difficult to comprehend why they would take their own life. It was pretty hard for me for a good while. It put me in this real low place. I kept thinking that if only he would have said something like, ‘Hey, I’m going through this. Do you think you can help me?’ But I guess some people don’t realize that their friends and others are willing to help. So when they’re going something and decide to keep it to themselves, then it’s too late.”

— Richard Vargas

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“Probably from the time I entered high school, I started feeling this wave of … You know how when you have a bottle full of water and it’s narrowing down into a very small canal? I kind of felt like that’s how my life was going.

“There was so much pressure involved with graduating high school, thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life, what figure of money I want to be making. And since I’m an only child, there’s this feeling of additional expectations placed on you. Maybe they’re not really there, but you have this feeling of needing to do something important with your life.

“So you want to make sure you’re doing the right thing and making the right decisions. But that’s not always easy to know. Sometimes that can lead to feeling really overwhelmed.”

The post Thinking about his future can be overwhelming appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Adam just loved school. He loved everything about it. He liked being around the people. He liked all of the socialization. He liked the jobs he got to do. His last job was at Tractor Supply. He helped with stocking. He put purchases in people’s cars. He cleaned up the parking lot. He picked up buggies. Whatever they needed him to do, he did. After life skills in the morning, the students would focus on more of the academic side in the afternoon.

“The big challenge came after Adam graduated in May. He still wanted to go to school. He’d grab his backpack and get ready. It was so tough for me to watch, I would actually have to leave. David would explain to him every day, ‘You graduated. You don’t get to go back to school.’ The next day, he’d get ready all over again. This went on for a couple of weeks. It broke my heart.

The post Mom believes her son ‘deserves the best’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“They finally had enough of it. I spent the first week of my senior year of high school in a mental institution. I found out real quick that wasn’t a joke. I learned there are some crazy people in this world, and I didn’t want to be one of them.

“Right after that, I left home to go live at my boyfriend’s house. I thought my parents were being horrible, but they were really just trying to help. I’m so stubborn. I wanted to make the point that I didn’t need them. I thought I could do it all on my own. I also had anger issues. I know how to control it now, but back then I just kind of let it all out. I would think and say things that weren’t even true, like my mom hates me. In reality, she just wanted the best for me.

“I didn’t take all of my classes seriously, which hurt my GPA. I decided to quit the softball team, only to find out later that a couple of colleges were looking at me. I could have gotten a full-ride scholarship. That was a hard lesson because now I have to pay for college myself.

“I have a lot of regrets. I would have changed a lot of things. But my mom tells me, ‘Put it behind you. It happened, so just let it go. You’re starting fresh. You’re doing something about it now.’

“It’s been kind of hard, but it’s getting easier now that I’m actually in college and working toward something positive.”

— Alexis Greathouse

The post ‘Lot of regrets’ for tumultuous teenager years appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I have a psychiatric disorder. It started getting pretty bad after my grandpa passed on. I began going in and out of psych units. I’ve had some issues, but as long as I continue to take my medications I usually do OK.

“I was shown as being mentally disabled as a child. I was in special ed in school. I don’t really remember that much about it. I loved my childhood.

“When I finished high school, that was the biggest day of my life. It made me feel really good.

“After graduation my uncle said, ‘I’m going to tell you something, bud. This week, me and your aunt are taking you out to dinner. I told you the day that you walked out on that field for graduation, you will have done something that we never did. You’re going to dinner wherever you want to go, so you’d better pick a restaurant.’ ”

What restaurant did you pick?
“Ryan’s.”

— Joshua Johnson

Related:

• He wants to be treated like ‘normal human being’
• It feels ‘great’ to be off the streets

The post High school graduation ‘biggest day of my life’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I dropped out of high school just a couple months before graduating. I was an AP student, staying up all night doing my homework and reading books from the first page to last page just so I could get good grades the next day. It’s kind of what my life was all about in high school.

“But during the spring semester of my senior year, I decided to do other things. I decided to branch out. I would go to Houston a lot and just walk around and meet different people. That’s what I really wanted to do with all my time, socialize and collaborate, and not just sit in a classroom all day and be surrounded by what I thought were people who were not really being themselves.”

What do you mean by that?
“I just felt like it was that time of year, and everyone was racing and trying to finish applications for scholarships and for colleges and for financial aid. It was all that anyone was thinking about. But I stopped and I thought that my heart isn’t here. My heart isn’t ready to go to college yet. There’s more that I want to do before I go down that road.”

— Christina Vallin

Related:

• ‘There will be time for college and careers’

The post She wants more before starting college life appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I dropped out of high school between the 10th and 11th grade after I had my daughter. I tried, but it was really hard working and going to school.

“I was working at McDonald’s, trying to make money to support her. But I would get off work at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning and then would fall asleep in school. I was failing my classes, so I thought I’d drop out for a year and then go back. That didn’t happen.

“As she got older, I always told my daughter that whatever she did, do not drop out. Keep on going. It was hard for her, too, because she made me a grandmother early. She has two kids now, but she’s doing great. She graduated high school and she’s in college for nursing.

“I think she saw the struggles I went through, and it helped motivate her to do better for herself and her kids. Everybody would tell her, ‘You’re going to be just like your mom, drop out and not do anything.’ But she’s like, ‘Nope, I’m going to show them.’ And she has. We’re all so proud of what she’s accomplished so far.”

— Adriana Lemus

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