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The person who made the biggest difference in my life at the age of 15 was Mary Yorke, my English Composition teacher and Speech & Debate Coach at Munster High School.

One of the most pivotal moments in my life happened on April 16, 1986. On this day, I walked into school surprised to find most of the freshmen halls empty. I entered my first period class, Biology, to find my teacher, Mr. Franklin, holding his head in his hands. I asked him what was going on, and why the school seemed so vacant. He told me to sit down, and asked if I had heard… “Heard what?” I asked. He proceeded to tell me that one of my dear friends, Chris Steele, had killed himself the night before, committing suicide in a garage with a running car. He was 14 years old.

I needed a great amount of space during that time -- Chris was one of my favorites at school, and I felt close to him. I seriously began to lose it, having almost an emotional breakdown. At this time I needed to get away… to have the opportunity to take walks and think and cry. But I lived in an incredibly overly protective and often emotionally abusive home, and was not allowed to leave the house but for school and some extracurricular activities.

I made it to Chris’ funeral. The line of young folks dressed in black wrapped around the block. Seeing him in his coffin was a defining moment for me in terms of shaping my interests in youth development, social justice, and social change. But I couldn’t see any of that on that day. I came home and begged my family to let me leave for a while, just to have the chance to ‘be,’ to make sense of death at such a young age. And they didn’t allow me to do that.

Mary Yorke, my dear teacher and friend, found out about this, and called them and said that I needed to come to her house to do some work. I left my house as soon as possible and just cried and reflected in her house. From that time on, Mary continued to check in on me, and providing me a space to learn and to live at her home for the rest of high school. She made a difference for me by helping me to emotionally and spiritually survive during such a trying time… this led to a huge renaissance in my ability to dream, support myself, and believe in my future.