Community Connections: Meet Chris L.

What object connects you to your community? We asked this question to the Youth Voices students at South El Monte High School at the end of our first meeting, and requested that they bring this object to our next class. These objects, along with their explanations, offer physical evidence of the personal link the students have with their neighborhood, and served as their point of departure for their Youth Voices Project: their experience, memories, and personal understanding of their community. To see more of the students' work click HERE or use #kcetyv on Twitter and Instagram.
My name is Chris L., I'm a Junior at South El Monte High School. My school community is an some what safe environment where come to learn and prepare academically and on the basketball court. The most important thing to know about me is that I LOVE to play basketball. Basketball is not just a sport, it's my passion, and it helps clear my mind of all the obstacles in life.

Basketball connects me to my community because it helps me want to get good grades in school, which would lead me to a good college to hopefully finding a high paying job in the NBA. My plan is to make lots of money so I could donate one million dollars to our local community and build gyms. If I don't get drafted (but I WILL), I'll attend San Diego State and major in accounting and then get drafted.