Jeannese Castro pulled up her electric blue Toyota Yaris to the chain-link fencing bumping against the property at Mann-Wagnon Park in the heart of Sulphur Springs. As soon as she put it into park, several energetic girls scrambled out, talking and playfully shoving each other as they walked up to the entrance to the Moses House.
Here, kids in the community come after school for tutoring sessions, art workshops and just to hang out, an alternative to hanging out on the streets of one of Tampa’s most impoverished neighborhoods. The kids are sweet and smart, volunteers at Moses House always say, but rough around the edges.
Castro is here to give them a role model, an adopted sister and a friend.
“These kids go from house to house and most of the time grandparents are raising them and they have to grow up fast,” Castro said. “So for them to have an older mentor is good, and I feel like I’ve been a positive role model for these girls. I love working with the kids.”
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*Editor’s Note- Daylina has struggled with strep throat this week and her writers have been a little busy with end of the term projects so here is a oldie but goodie student profile from the end of last semester that she had published on the university website.