The sixth-grader at E Prep Cliffs Campus, a Breakthrough Schools charter in the Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhood, lives in Cleveland with his mother. He plays basketball, does gymnastics, and loves video games and pancakes. Some mornings he gets up early to watch videos of professional wrestling before going to school.
I'm not scared of spiders or snakes. My biggest fear is losing my mom. It would be too much to go through. It was too much when I was little, and I lost my grandma from cancer. I lost my cousin from cancer — I think it was ovarian cancer. I lost her. That would be my hardest fear, losing my mom.
My worst day was when I got 21 or 22 detentions in one day. My mom, the next day when I got home, she took my PlayStation and TV so I could know what it feels like. Because when you're in prison, you don't get to play games or TV time. So she put me in a kind of isolation where I had to read and do books until I got my grades up.
Last night I was watching a movie, and somewhere around my house we heard six or seven gunshots. It just shot out. Right in the middle of the movie, we heard like six gunshots. I think they were a Tec-9 or a 9 mm. It wasn't that far from my house. It was just a dude outside pointing a gun, but we didn't see what was happening. We just heard six shots in the air.
I wave at police cars, because my teacher, her dad passed away and he was an officer. She said I could be a police officer if I put my mind to it. A police officer is one of the most important jobs in the world, because you put your life on the line. Say somebody robbed a bank and they grab a hostage and they tell you to do something. The hostage, it's life or death for them and they're uncomfortable. So you got to do everything you need to help that hostage so they can get free. That's why we should always respect cops.
