Student Stories

Bill’s Story

After growing up in a rough neighborhood, the loss of a childhood friend made Bill feel like he needed a fresh start. With the help of a family member he tried a few different times to get his life back but still found himself lacking motivation until one day…

Amber’s Story

Amber joined us as a single mother of two determined to create a better life for herself and her children. The fact is that our rigorous performance and attendance standards are challenging for all students, and particularly difficult for those…

Matt’s Story

Matt knew he wanted to work in the construction industry, he just didn’t know the best way to go about getting his foot in the door. By the time Matt had walked in our doors he had already spent quite a bit of his hard-earned money on a different training program and…

Alana’s Story

When Alana found out that she probably wouldn’t be able to graduate high school, she was frustrated, and felt like she was letting herself and her family down. Alana didn’t feel that she was able to get the support or attention that she needed to succeed…

Jesus’s Story

Before coming to Portland YouthBuilders in 2014, PYB graduate Jesus was struggling to find the support necessary to advance his education and pursue his career. He describes feeling a bit lost when he first came to PYB, as both his home life and…

Tanya’s Story

Tanya is a 22 year old mother who’s work ethic, dedication, and selflessness helped her to succeed at PYB and begin to create a better life for her family. Tanya came to PYB so that she could pave the way for her to get into college to study Social Work…

Yedhic’s Story

Yedhic came to PYB unsure of what she wanted in a career. Shortly after joining PYB’s technology program she discovered that she had a passion for technology. Yedhic says, “From general IT and networking to robotics and HTML, I wanted to discover it…