I have known all my life I had a natural focus towards minorities, in history as well as current issues. I have always known eventually I would need a way to place my heart in that subject. However, at the end of my junior year, I evaluated my stand on minority issues, realizing my cause in the way I had been fighting was truly outdated. By the end of my junior year, I knew I had to find something else. However, I had spent my life on a timely subject that I could see would soon reach its expiration date. There were no other options.
    

One day, a former school social worker was invited to my class to speak about compassion, the week's subject. We did not expect what he gave us. In a manner unlike any of our previous speakers, he sat down in alone chair at the front of the room. His slight smirk to the class did not overshadow his solemn mood. He began by saying, "He could not be the school social worker anymore." After a few quiet seconds of contemplation, he proceeded to tell us why. His stories of students
    

One class speaker refocused my idealist intentions, exposing me to the rather hidden issue of local poverty. I realized poverty was a colorblind issue that unintentionally targets racial minorities. It included everything I had theorized about in regards to equal opportunity; that the fight for equal opportunity no longer resided simply in the frail hands of law, but in the firm hands of the community. The community would be in charge of successfully turning the tables of social stigmas and making sure every child received a balanced beginning. I founded The Realz Project with two juniors in my class. The Realz Project creates boxes full of "teen" food( Macaroni and Cheese, Poptarts, etc.) clothes and blankets specifically for teenagers and pre-teens. On the night of my decision to start The Realz project, I went home to research poverty in the United States. The statistics were startling. Sixteen to twenty-four year olds in poverty were seven times more likely to dropout of high school. Thirty-one percent of young adults without a high school diploma or something equivalent were living in poverty. Women in poverty were more likely to get pregnant before the age of 18. Children born into poverty were more likely to stay in poverty for the rest of their lives. In 2011, there were about 46.2 million Americans living below the poverty line. When I presented these statistics to some of my friends at school, one reasoned, “The cure to stopping the cycle of poverty lies within the confines of education.” I considered this reasoning for a brief moment until I realized, how can one take full advantage of an education when their basic needs are not being met? At this realization, I also recognized another recurring issue in my society; the view on people in poverty. The main focus of The Realz Project is inspiring the students who receive these packages by making sure they know the box is not a “handout”, but rather a reward for going to school, and trying to learn despite their circumstance. We include a card in each box with this message. The box recipients will be encouraged to write letters about their stories. These stories will be used to educate others about poverty.
       

A couple weeks after I decided to start The Realz Project, I saw something ironic. There was a commercial featuring the speeches of leaders who championed racial equality. After those leaders, the commercial began showing speeches of young people advocating on the cause of poverty and child hunger. The commercial confirmed my suspicions, and inadvertently pushed me to move forward with my project. My mind has already begun focusing on the future of the project, The Realz Project that  stemmed from this relatively new passion. I have already begun planning for teen centers, scholarships and more ways to reach out to the community around me.
       

The work can be exhausting. Sometimes, I have to put so many boxes in my room that I end up sleeping in a ball on my floor. I spend most of my free time emailing schools, assessing products, and delivering packages. However, I do not believe that in the pursuit of this project, the balance of sacrifices is upsetted by giving time or supplies to the cause of poverty. Our sacrifices may never amount to the sacrifices endured by many middle school and high school students in Pitt county. We have an innate duty to help them, inspire them, give them tangible motivation to continue in their pursuit of knowledge and a better life. We have a duty to reverse the cycle of poverty. For their positive attitudes despite their circumstance, we owe them that much.
        

In one weekend, the Realz Project spread into two counties. If that is any indication of the future of this project, it will continue to spread, and may reach the most western ends of North Carolina by the end of its first year. I hope to continue its expansion throughout the United States until it is no longer a project, but rather a mandatory program that better equips schools to combat their own poverty. I will never forget my beginning goals. This experience has forced me to rethink what I wanted from life. My goals are no longer for me, but for the cause. I want to have reached 1,000 students with these boxes. If the Realz Project can help to make sure more good, hardworking people make it to where they should be, where they deserve to be in life, I will be more than satisfied.