BTC was formed by four friends, myself and our mentor Nisha Sachdev. We were all juniors and seniors in high school seeking further assistance to help with our post secondary education. We decided to come up with a program that will help youth, like us, to get the motivation, skills, and tools needed to better ourselves for the life after high school. We came up with the name Breaking the Cycle and the goal is to encourage, support, and provide opportunities for youth to positively develop and "break the cycle" of events that have occurred in their lives. Thanks to BTC, I am now a college graduate and seeking to help and motivate the next youth in need.

I started out teaching Spanish in the Upward Bound program at the George Washington University Medical Center. Convinced that youth lack the knowledge of the opportunities available to them, I took on the task of mentoring the senior students through their senior year. By the end of the school year, the five seniors successfully applied and enrolled in universities throughout the country. The initial success showed that once the necessary services and opportunities were made readily available to the students, they took full advantage of them and re-directed their paths to ensure positive outcomes with their lives. Most surprising—and rewarding—was the fact that the students whose lives had indeed changed wanted to share their positive experiences with other students to help them secure their futures as well.

In 2005, the five students and I formed “Breaking the Cycle,” an organization which engages these “mentored” students, as well as other high school students, to make and follow positive decisions in. It was amazing to see these youth take on leadership roles in the community . Breaking the Cycle has since been established as a non-profit organization and has helped over 100 youth.