Every summer, TIF watches students graduate high school and prepare for the next step in their education. For Jesus, that next step is college. This Take Stock in Children alum is currently a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast University. (In his latest note to us, he wrote, “College is AMAZING! Things are going great for me! I love it!”)

Between graduating from Immokalee High School and beginning his freshman year of college, Jesus spent the summer with his family, who work as migrant farmhands — an occupation and lifestyle common among residents of Immokalee. Each day, Jesus took a minute or two to tell us about his summer experiences.

Sunday, July 12, 2009
10:00 p.m.

I’m currently on my way back home and tomorrow bright and early I have orientation for Florida Gulf Coast University. It’s making me slightly nervous because I don’t know what to expect. My parents won’t be able to attend so I’ll be going through it alone, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Monday, July 13, 2009
11:59 p.m.

Man oh man! College is no joke! I felt a little overwhelmed today because of the mass amount of information that was given to us. It made things sound super difficult and I felt like college was going to be far more stressful. We all met our freshmen advisors and they’ll be like our guidance counselors that are going to be there when we have questions to ask and so forth. I met a new friend who’s also from the state of Florida. His name is Marlin and we had similar interests so things weren’t that lonely because he was going through the same things I was. This is all new to him too and we both managed and meet other students that are part of our incoming freshmen class.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
8:00 p.m.

Go FGCU Eagles! I finished my orientation around 6 p.m. today and I’m already on the road back to Morristown, Tennessee. I am so exhausted from lack of sleep. The orientation was very informative and at first it sounded like college was rocket science, but it’s not super difficult when you think about it. I also registered for my classes while I was there. My schedule was okay, but I wasn’t too satisfied. Being that I’m a freshmen, the upperclassmen get priority for class selection so I wasn’t left with too many choices. The majority of my classes are in the afternoon. Thankfully the class schedule is only temporary. In October I get to pick my courses for the spring term with everyone else.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
5:35 p.m.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. That’s all I’ve been doing today. I need to catch up because tomorrow I have tons of paperwork to fill out. My dad wants me to help him fill out some payroll forms that he was put in charge of.

Thursday, July 16, 2009
10:00 p.m.

Harry Potter! I’m here at the movies patiently waiting for the movie to start. I haven’t seen a Harry Potter movie in a while nor have I read the books again. They were pretty good so I’m hoping this movie is the same.

Friday, July 17, 2009
11:23 a.m.

Rain. Rain. Rain. You know what that means right? No work! My mom and I are planning on spending the day with my aunt and uncle so we’ll probably drive over to North Carolina later to be with them. It should be fun spending time with the family!

Saturday, July 18, 2009
11:54 p.m.

I didn’t do much today. It was a pretty boring day. Besides helping my dad fill out paper work there wasn’t much working done today. I’ve just been laying around the house. I feel so lazy. I’m used to always being on the move and actually doing something productive.

Sunday, July 19, 2009
9:50 p.m.

I Love You Beth Cooper is tonight’s movie title. It looks like a funny movie so I hope it doesn’t disappoint. It’s basically about a geeky nerd who confesses his love for a girl named Beth Cooper in his commencement speech. It should be good.

Monday, July 20, 2009
12:51 p.m.

Wow! A month from today and I’ll be in college! Man I can’t wait for the experiences I’ll go through and all the new people I’ll meet! It makes me slightly nervous because I’m being thrown into a completely new atmosphere and I won’t know too many people. I have my roommate who graduated from my high school and a few friends that graduated from my high school years before, but it’s still a little scary. I’ve heard that for people who attend college that it’s the best years of their life and when you think about it...it’s true. I mean you have a place to start fresh and go outside of your comfort zone and try new things that you never thought you’d never be doing in your life. Whew. Can’t wait! :)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
[Time not noted]

Another normal day...it’s starting to get boring. I really don’t like routine in any aspect of life. Especially when it comes to work. I like to do something different and it gets boring going through constant repetition. For my future career I know that one of the major aspects that I’ll be looking for is a fast-paced environment with constant change. I like experiencing new things because it makes things interesting and keeps my interest longer.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
1:23 p.m.

Rain. Rain. Another work day cut short. The trucks are on their way here to the packinghouse and I’m getting things ready for when they have to unload. It won’t take long so I should be home within an hour and a half. I would like to go out into town today to watch a movie, but I think I’ll just stay home and call some friends from home to see how they’re doing.

Thursday, July 23, 2009
3:47 p.m.

Another short day today! Man, the weather is not letting up. The tomatoes are pretty ripe and ready to be picked. Hopefully the weather clears up by tomorrow so that there’s work.

Friday, July 24, 2009
10:25 p.m.

Today was, yet again, a relatively short day compared to previous work days. I opened up a new bank account today at Regions and I’m starting to think about ways to better manage my finances. I’m starting to think about better ways to invest my money and save, instead of the normal thing that’s expected from teenagers and that’s spend spend spend. I’m planning on buying stocks sometime later this year because I want to do some more research and get a better idea of how stocks and the stock market work. I’m positive that I’m going to buy Apple stocks and I’ll probably pick two other companies to invest in. Perhaps if I bet my money correctly one day I can retire off just investments because the economy should come around by then, but it’ll help me have a more relaxed mind knowing that I have money sitting aside somewhere.

Saturday, July 25, 2009
12:52 p.m.

Knoxville, Tennessee is my current destination! Yesterday was pay day so I’m off to Knoxville with my mom to spend the day there. My mom also has a few errands to run, but we’ll probably head to the mall and later towards the bank.

CHECK OUT WEEK ONE

CHECK OUT WEEK TWO

CHECK OUT WEEKS THREE & FOUR

CHECK OUT WEEK FIVE

CHECK OUT WEEKS EIGHT & NINE

CHECK OUT WEEKS TEN & ELEVEN