Mrs. Cull is an Alternative Education teacher at Arrowhead Union High School in Hartland, Wisconsin. I’ve known Mrs. Cull for almost two years now. She is my credit recovery teacher and a mentor. I’ve been through a lot throughout my life, but it’s been a struggle for the past three months. Three months ago today, I moved out of my parents’ house because of family issues that had been going on for years. I broke and couldn’t take living there anymore, so I had left. In the beginning, I bounced around from friends houses to the next. At the time very few people knew about my situation.

My girlfriend at the time was very caring, loving, and a huge family person. She was telling me to apologize and do whatever I can to go back and live with my parents. I was happy she cared for me, but she didn’t understand what I was going through physically other than what I had told her. Since I was going through rough times, I was making poor decisions; Obviously, I’m not proud of what I had done, but I needed something to cope with my stress and depression at the time.

Then I met Mrs.Cull. I had her last year too, but I never really talked to her. Since I was going through these issues, I went up to her and gave her the scoop of what was going on. She was in shock of my situation like most people were when I told them, which at the time was ten people. I was kind of nervous after telling her about me moving out and technically being homeless. At first nothing was being done about it since I said that I was alright, which I really wasn’t, but I’m a person who doesn’t want to feel like a charity case.

A friend and I on a Friday go to Milwaukee to go to a party. He also had this college orientation there too and was going to go back to school on Monday too. So, I asked my older sister who had a apartment in Milwaukee if I could stay over til Monday. She was fine with the idea of me staying over for a few nights. When Monday rolls around I keep contacting my friend asking where he is, but doesn’t respond. Eventually he answers his phone, but the news he told me wasn’t good. He was at school that day. He was my ride home and I had lost it because his mom didn’t know that we went together. So, eventually my sister gets pissed that I’ve been at her apartment for so long that I have to leave. I’m stranded in Milwaukee and nowhere to go.

It’s about ten o’clock at night and I’m on Oakland Avenue near UW-Milwaukee. I was freezing cold and most places were closed, except for this laundromat place. As I walk in, these two men stare at me til I sit down inside. I mind my own business until one of the men asks me what I was doing there so late at night. I told him my situation about moving out, my friend ditching me here in Milwaukee and how I wasn’t able to stay at my sisters apartment. He told me I could crash at his place if I needed to for as long as I wanted to. I was sketched out about his offer because he didn’t seem like a normal man, but I was freezing and starving at the same time with nowhere to go. So, I eventually accepted his offer and we go to his place to show me around and where to go if in a needed situation. As we’re in his building, he leads me to the basement to where he was staying and at this point I feeling a little bit uncomfortable because these kind of stories don’t end well. As I walking into his room in the basement I was really sketched out about sleeping over. The room had garbage everywhere, a really old mattress on the floor. We weren’t the only people in the room. There was a man in his fifties that looked like worn down leather and had blackish-yellow teeth. He seemed crazy with his views of life and was also a homeless hardcore alcoholic. About thirty minutes later, the crazy alcoholic was using a pipe and lighting it up. At first, I thought it was weed, but it didn’t smell like weed and didn’t have a scent. The man offered it to me and I refused to try it, but the man was really drunk and was getting frustrated at me. So, I tried it and was told to hit it like a vape, which I did what he said. The substance that was heated up was clear and as I was ripping it there was no taste. After like twenty seconds of ripping it, I got an immense taste of gasoline and extremely buzzed. I was acting jittery which made me even more scared since I didn’t know what I did. They had a code name for it called girl. In the ending I found out that it was crack and made stay away from that guy and wanted to get out so badly, but had nowhere to go. That moment was probably the most or definitely one of the most scariest encounters I’ve ever had.

At that time I had missed three days of school and no way to get there. I had to find the nearest phone to call school saying that I was stuck because my parents had dropped me from their phone plan. When I called Mrs. Cull had responded and said that she’d get a van to come pick me up and transport me to school. That was a start of change for me. She helped me find a stable place to stay and have transportation to and from school. I now have good attendance and she makes me want to go to school even more. About three weeks after I moved out of my parents house a bunch of people found out that I am homeless and don’t live with my parents. I was looked down upon and was bullied, but didn’t really phase me. Until it got way too far.

Thanks to Mrs, Cull she got me through these situations and had helped me make better options that can positively impact me now and in the future. If I didn’t have Mrs.Cull I don’t know what I would do without her because since I have been with her I have made better decisions. I had quit doing drugs, don’t drink anymore, and have been slowly trying to quit vaping. I’m excited to see her reaction when she reads it because I want her to know how much she means to me and how much impacts my life daily.