Summer Nicol:  

Life Life is full of surprises: After graduation in June 1968, I traveled to Maryland to visit my paternal grandmother for the summer. On the return flight to California, I had an option of a 24-hour layover in New York City. I figured, "I'm going to Long Beach State in the Fall, I may not ever make it back to the East Coast, and I've never seen New York City; it's FREE, so why not?!" While sightseeing, my little bargain hotel room got broken into. My luggage was stolen along with my airline ticket, cash, clothes and shoes. Instead of being in NYC for 24 hours, my visit got prolonged to four years! I received a comprehensive education about Life and People that I couldn't have learned any other way. I traveled through Europe the summer I turned 21 and finally made it back to sunny Southern California in 1974. I married a television graphic artist in 1978 and moved away to the mountains of Idyllwild, where it snowed for 6 months straight! I had to drive 52 miles each way to work and back through icy sleet and snow on twisty mountain roads. We headed back to the beach and the sun in 1980. My Husband The Artist painted while I worked, and so the years passed. We parted amicably in 1984 - no kids, no trauma, very civilized. I got the sofa and he got the TV and moved back to LA where he's still painting (and watching TV) and I'm still working. Life continues to lead me on an interesting journey in my career and volunteer work in the community; both focus on helping at-risk youth. I've found my "right livelihood" in teaching employability skills and life skills: how to get/keep a job, and how to become self-sufficient. Typically, my students are 16-21, economically disadvantaged, and have multiple barriers to employment; they're a mix of teen parents, dropouts, gang-affiliated youth and offenders on probation/parole. They are all incredible survivors. My job is to steer them back to school or into technical/vocational training, motivate them to succeed, and connect them with jobs so they can become self-supporting taxpayers. I've never had children of my own, but I've been blessed to have children in my life, and I've gotten to help raise a few. I've been a volunteer Big Sister to two girls in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program since 1981. In 1995, I became a volunteer mentor with Breakthrough Youth for Success and was matched to two at-risk Latinas. All four of my girls have gone on to college! Both my Little Sisters are 31 now and my Breakthrough mentees are both 23, and I am so proud of what accomplished, strong, caring, self-supporting human beings they've become! Coincidentally, 3 of the 4 have now become adoptive guardians and are raising young children whose lives had troubled roots. Another big part of life the past 13 years has been volunteering at California Youth Authority. I'm the founder/facilitator of The StoryBook Project, which allows incarcerated young mothers to ...Expand for more