On the sidelines of a basketball game, Sebastian watches the play intently, keeping track of statistics for the coaches and being ready to share them at a moment’s notice.
He loves being the manager for boys basketball at Boys Ranch. He likes the game, and he likes spending time with his friends on the team. For his spring sport, Sebastian played tennis.
Since arriving at Boys Ranch, Sebastian has found a friend group, raised his grades, tried new activities and made a plan for his future. That’s a lot for a boy who had jumped from school to school. He had even been homeschooled for a while, before going back to public school.
He was falling behind other students his age scholastically. When he came to Boys Ranch, it was a new start for his life academically and socially. The Boys Ranch Independent School District specializes in helping students catch up with their age-peers. It was a golden opportunity.
Finding a Place to Thrive
At first, Sebastian mostly stayed in his home, concentrating on his education and making friends while he took summer classes to catch up.
“Then I thought, ‘I need something to fill my calendar,’” Sebastian said.
He looked around at all the opportunities that donors have made possible at Boys Ranch, and he began getting involved in the community. Sebastian was team manager for football and basketball. He participated in FFA. In 2023, Sebastian showed his first lamb, “Nixon” at the Boys Ranch High School FFA show and at the Oldham County Stock Show.
Through FFA and woodworking class, Sebastian has crafted beautiful objects, including a rocking chair that he entered at the Tri State Fair in Amarillo.
He continued to nurture his friendships with other boys in his home, buddies with whom he can share a joke.
“We can all just get along,” he said. “We could say like the most weird things about each other and we could just laugh it off.”
His houseparent Jacquline Fisher-Carpenter at Johnson Home is among the best cooks on campus, he said, and he especially enjoys her chicken curry.
“Maybe she’ll bring me some after I graduate,” he said hopefully.
A Chance to Restart His Life
Although Sebastian is joking, he had some adult experiences before life at Boys Ranch.
“I had some job experiences before I came here,” he said. “I thought, ‘I’m an adult; Ican do whatever.’”
He discovered that he wasn’t quite ready to become an adult. Boys Ranch gave him a second chance to be a teen. Now, he said, with the help of houseparents and other adults at Boys Ranch, he is more mature and understands what adulthood will demand of him.
“I would like to thank donors for giving me a place to just reset my life,” Sebastian said. “I’ll be able to do everything right this time. I’ve learned from my mistakes. When I came here, people didn’t know what I did before, so I could just start over.”
During Sebastian’s time at Boys Ranch, he has learned to weld – a skill that he hopes to turn into a career path. He enjoys the pursuit of perfection that welding requires.
“I have a picture,” Sebastian said. “It’s this perfect bead (of welding) that I made. It looked nice.”
Eventually, that welding business could turn into a construction business building steel-frame houses, he said.
Thanks to donors, Sebastian has not only been able to turn his life around, he will be able to restart it.