April 20, 2011/MTV-It's challenging to maintain top grades, participate in sports and service clubs, and manage a social life. Then throw in college applications or job interviews. Stress! But what if all those worries were piled on top of troubles at home, or a slew of bad decisions like getting involved in drugs or gangs? It can be easy to give up and assume that your future just won't be as bright as your peers.

New Jersey native Kevin Beck was a high school dropout heading down the wrong path, even ending up in a juvenile detention center. Eventually, a move and new school helped him get back on track, but an organization called Communities in Schools (CIS) really gave him the resources he needed to shine. CIS supports students by bringing career guidance, health care services, tutoring, college visits, family counseling and other resources directly to public schools all over the country.

“CIS has helped me change the mindset that I once had,” he said. “Success in not how high you are, but how high you jump when you hit rock bottom.”

Kevin's CIS mentor, Lloyd Hopkins, helped him not only secure a job so he could pay rent while earning his diploma, but helped him get into college by assisting with applications, interviews and financial aid. He made him realize that college and a successful future were within reach, regardless of his past.

“Although as a child you can’t choose where, or who, you live around, you can choose who you hang around,” he said. “I use to believe I belonged with the rest of my friends and male family members on the corner as a gangster and drug dealer. Why? That’s just how it is where I’m from...when I look back at my brothers who are still there, it’s sad.”

Kevin is now in his sophomore year of college, preparing to become a pharmacist––and he makes top grades while working a full-time job. How's that for a bright future?

Read the full blog post here.