“As a parent, sometimes you just overthink things.”

Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard

Transcript for I Wanted More for My Kid

The reason why I originally moved to Schererville is because, one reason was that, you know, I wanted the better schools for my son. Just when you start thinking about, you know, getting into the global world, you know, you say, “Hey,” you know, “they got computers, they got the best of this, the best of that, you know? It’s a more competitive environment educationally.” So, you just start thinking kind of like out the box, like, you know, “What can I do as a parent to help my children be more successful?” When I got into the administrative world, you know, I started making more money, you know, I just wanted more for my kids. I kind of felt like I wanted more for my kids or whatever, so I sent them to school in Schererville, but eventually, my son went there freshman, sophomore year, he wasn’t doing well, wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do, so I eventually brought him back to Gary, you know, so he graduated from West Side High School. But as a parent, sometimes, you overthink things, and you think you’re trying to do the right thing for your kids, so, you know, we moved out there. I took a—I made a sacrifice, took him out there, bought this huge house for no reason—it’s just me and him, and you know, I just thought I was doing what I was supposed to do, you know, as a parent, kind of like, I wanted more, but eventually I’ve come to realize that, you know, that really wasn’t the case, that he got just as much nourishment at West Side than he got at Lake Central.

Although I don’t necessarily literally live in Gary, I’m mean, I’m here all the time. I work here, I’m a coach here, I mean, I get home at eight, nine o’clock every night, you know. Ten hours of my day is spent in Gary, you know? So, I definitely feel blessed that, you know, I’m from Gary, but I’m also really excited when I go other places and I see other amazing things. One of the greatest analogies that I ever came across when I was in college is that, I went to a gas station when I first—me and my father drove from Gary, Indiana to Illinois State University, and we stopped to get gas or whatever, and when I went into the gas station, and that glass wasn’t there, that like, plexiglass, that, you know, protective glass, and I’ve never been like, a thief or anything, but I was like, “Man,” you know, “I could steal that bubblegum.” You know what I mean? It was like, it was there—it was like out in the public, and I was like, “Man, this is different.” So that was kind of like my first experience of going to college—my first experience of seeing, you know, the whole world is not really guarded like that. The whole world is not really, you know, under the auspices of, you know, protect yourself, you know. And living in Schererville, you know, we go days, and days, and days upon days, you know, without locking our door or whatever. Or my son would leave, and leave, you know the back patio open, and stuff like that, you know? So, that’s just—those are just things, experiences that, you know, we didn’t do coming up in Gary.

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