These powerful words are from Ricardo, a student in his early twenties. Ricardo spends his days working, attending college, and learning about the state of the world in his attempts to make it a better place.
Ricardo attended Watkins Mill High School. He displayed his leadership skills at an early age and was voted to captain of the varsity basketball team in his sophomore year. He continued to serve as captain, leading his team to victory for the remainder of his high school career.
When high school was over, Ricardo enrolled in an HV/AC program at a local college. He only stayed a year before he decided to join Americorp and spend a year of his life dedicated to serving the community.
“My grandma was so giving and she was always helping people,” he says. “I get it from her. I love helping people and seeing the smile on their face when they see good things happening in their lives.”
Americorp took Ricardo places he had never thought of going. He built houses for Habitat for Humanity in Oklahoma City, helped rebuild homes destroyed by hurricanes in McAllen, Texas, and tutored underprivileged children in Huston. But his most memorable experience was at Cal-Wood Education Center outside of Boulder, Colorado. Surrounded by the breathtaking beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Ricardo helped teach children about the environment, built and refurbished trails, and engaged in forest fire prevention. Ricardo was introduced to people who had completely different life experiences, and he learned to accept people for who they were without judgment. In Americorp he made friends who he still stays in close contact with, and enjoyed every moment of his experience.
“Americorp was one of the best times of my life,” he says. “There were some hard parts but I would do it all again, the good and the bad.”
Upon returning home, Ricardo took a job at a car dealership. Though he wanted to be a mechanic there were no apprentice positions open, so he instead worked at the car wash. Through his desire to take more of a leadership role Ricardo worked his way up the ladder to become the night manager at the dealership.
“With my money from that job I bought my very first car,” he says. “It was a green Hyundai Elantra that had headlights that wobbled when I hit a bump and had 100,000 miles on it but it lasted me a while and got me everywhere I needed to go.”
Ricardo moved on from that job, pursuing his passion for cars to work at a small detail and body work shop and decided to go back to school for HV/AC. He enrolled in the program at Montgomery College, close to his home in Maryland where he lives with his girlfriend of three years.
Today, Ricardo is halfway through his course of study and works as a porter for a Cadillac dealership. He is responsible for picking up and delivering cars all over the mid-Atlantic region, meeting new and interesting people every day.
In his free time, Ricardo satisfies his curiosity about the world by following the news and reading deeper into topics that particularly interest him. He is deeply concerned about the path that the world is going down and believes that things need to change.
“I feel like my generation has to work double-time to get things done,” he explains. “The world has changed so much in all these deep ways during our lifetime with things like 9/11, the wars, the first African American president. From what I see and what I've experienced, the generation coming after us doesn't have as much respect for themselves or the world around them. It's up to us to teach them and bring the world together.”
Ricardo believes change in policies has to start with voting. Young people have to get out and make good choices about who is going to be in charge of society. He says that recent attempts to block access to voting for some groups has to stop, and the millennial generation has to get out and vote if they want to start making changes. Ricardo wants people to be more aware of the world they live in and the responsibilities each person has to one another.
“So much needs to change and I feel like it's almost out of my hands because I'm only got two hands. It's going to take everybody. People need to open their eyes to whats going on around them and band together if the world is going to get better.”
Through his leadership skills developed in high school and his service in Americorp, Ricardo has already proven himself to be a capable young man with big plans for himself and for the world. It is without a doubt that he will continue to help those around him and contribute to the sense of community he hopes everyone will someday embrace.
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