This summer we plan to highlight several of the participants in the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. To view all Faces of the 21CSC stories, please click here. The following story was provided by Operation Fresh Start, a 21CSC program operator based in Madison, Wisconsin. It was written by Ashley.

Since I dropped out of high school, I’ve been to three different high schools. None of those high schools worked out for my needs. I had no support from anyone…The only thing I had was my animals. I thought I had friends. I found out they just brought me down more. Those friends had no goals or motivation. All they wanted to do was party.

One of my friends told me about a great program called Operation Fresh Start. I looked more into the program and thought it would be a great place to go. I went to the interview so nervous wondering if they would even let me into the program. A few weeks went on after the interview and I got a call saying that ‘ I’m in’ and needed to come in to have a meeting with my soon to be supervisor. At the meeting we talked about what we would be doing. I knew this was where I needed to be. Continue reading →