Free Teens USA - Jersey City

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Statements from Clair Memorial Free Teens Members

I choose to be a Free Teens because I didn’t want to be another statistic or an uneducated young black man with a baby and no job. Free Teens has taught me that waiting is the best thing because when I find my love of my life I want to be clean and able to support our family. Free Teens is also teaching me that my education will be my future. I want to change the statistics that blacks can’t finish school and get their college degree. In my mind failure is not an option and Free Teens is pushing that theory by trying to tell us to wait for sex until marriage. When you first have sex it probably be on your mind everyday. Tyler Perry once said in his show Madea Goes To Jail “Some people are like leaves on a tree, some are seasonal, some are lifetime leaves. We have to be able to pick who is who. A person who comes around sometimes or a person there for you forever.” Kenneth Pinnock, III

Abstinence brings friends like love and commitment, but make the mistake of having sex and that brings unwanted friends like AIDS and STD’s. You may think you’re cool but you’re acting like a fool doing this doing that having sex with the next but come on man who you fooling you know deep down inside you’re hurting so come on Abstinence is the best way to live your life. Kennisha Kelly

More kids need to know about abstinence, because young teenagers out there are getting pregnant early and not waiting until they get married. Pregnant teens are dealing with a lot of drama and pain. Aishianay Bratten

Be a child, before you have a child. It’s not worth it, don’t waste your time. Don’t follow no one, be one of a kind.
Mariah Ralph

Free Teens is a safe place. Free Teens is a place to talk to you about not having sex until you get married.
Asia Benjamin

People should know that abstinence prevents young teenage girls from getting pregnant.
Queen Hardy

I think you should wait to have sex if you are not married. There could be a lot of consequences like pregnancy and HIV. It is scary! I learned the few are very lucky and you do not have to live with someone before you really know him well. I think having sex is addictive like a cigarette, if you keep on doing it, you will get used to it. Yannah Taylor

I think that you should wait until marriage to have sex or make love. I learned that some teenagers think having sex is love. And living with your boyfriend is not the way. I will not let my boyfriend control me. I will surely not have sex before marriage. Fanny Sesay

Higher Call Club, Jersey City: “Why I choose to abstain from sex until marriage”

“because I know I am worth the wait. I realize that my body is a temple and to protect it, I must refrain myself from and sexual activities that may harm it. At the stage of my life right now, I understand that having sex will put my body in danger.

To have sex is to lose the honor to say that I am a virgin and I can wear white on my wedding day. Don’t get me wrong, sex is a popular topic that I sometimes think about but I understand that I have to keep my standards high and honestly, I haven’t found anyone worth my ‘precious goodies.’ ”
Gene’a Bell

“because I’m afraid of what people might think of me. It’s not really following someone else; it’s just that I’m just afraid. Also I would like to save myself for that special one. Because I don’t want to do it with the wrong person and regret it for the rest of my life.

My husband really has to be the one I love because I really couldn’t let him have property if he wasn’t the one for me.
Crystal Jenkins

“ because I want to be unique. I don’t like to blend in with everyone else. I like to stand out – stick out like a sore thumb.

Another reason is because sex is not appealing to me some people need certain things in order to describe them or define them. Not me though. Some people use sex as a way to get in with the in crowd. Young people today are sexing each other and don’t know what comes along with the territory.

When I see or hear young girls talking about going to their boyfriend’s house to go do it, I look at then like they’re crazy because you are not grown and/or married. So why are you talking out of the side of your mouth. I also want to save myself for my husband. I want to give myself to my husband on my wedding night.”
Chakitta Johnson

“I choose to abstain from sex until marriage for the simple reason that I would want my wife to do the same. The most special thing you can give your wife is yourself. To me sex is something shared with the person you love and someone who you could see you being with for the rest of your life, til death do you apart.

Another reason is that I don’t want to have kids now. A baby having a baby is not something I want to be. As of right now I can’t see me having sex and having kids, because for one thing I’m not ready. Second, I am not financially ready for a child.”
Demetrius Russell

What JC Students say

What JC Students say

What JC parents and teachers say

Fanny Sesay
Clair Memorial Club, Jersey City, NJ
Free Teens 2007 Princess

I choose to be abstinent because I love my body. I choose to be abstinent because of emotional damage caused by sex. I choose to be abstinent to stay healthy and strong. Why do I choose to be abstinent? There are millions of answers. I have the great honor of telling you my answer to the question:

My body is one of my top priorities. I have to dress modestly and respect what happens to me. Going around having uncommitted sex is not respecting my body. I want to save my gift for the right one who will love me for me and will cherish my gift as much as I do.

Emotions cause horrible things, like suicides and massacres. To protect myself from such things I choose to be abstinent. No one wants to feel hurt, especially me. Who wants to be depressed? But these are the side effects of early sex. Your heart is broken into tiny pieces when you are used for sex.

I want to be healthy for my future husband–without any diseases. While I’m abstinent I am avoiding all diseases caused by sex, such as deadly HIV, incurable STD’s, and many, many more. Some people may say some diseases are curable. Well I say no disease is curable. There’s still the guilt of getting that disease and paying to get it out of your system. The disease may be curable physically, but it’s still there emotionally. So it’s like it never went away.

The main reason I choose to abstain is because of Free Teens. If it wasn’t for their staff, I can say I wouldn’t be having sex, but I can’t say I wouldn’t be too far away from it. Thanks to their guidance I could write a whole essay on why teens should choose to be abstinent. I choose to be abstinent because I love myself.

Tonia Ford
Clair Memorial Free Teens Club
Jersey City, NJ

I joined Free Teens 8 months ago after some friends of mine told me what a wonderful message it was sending, and about the powerful leaders it was building. I was deeply inspired and instantly felt motivated to join and be apart of this great movement. Since then I have acquired so much information about sex and why I should wait.

I am now much more confident in my reasons why I should remain abstinent until marriage. Abstinence is a beautiful thing and I am thankful that a program like Free Teens can assure me of that. I am abstinent for numerous reasons. One of my reasons being that I want to be in a healthy relationship and fully mature when I decide to share myself with that special someone whom I will love. I don’t want to give that valuable piece of myself for immature reasons. Besides that, I want to prevent pregnancy at an early age. I want to be settled and married when I decide to have a child. Furthermore I want to enjoy and fully experience my own youth. I know that having a child will complicate that.

I’m also aware that I may get pregnant if I make the poor decision to reject from what I have learned from Free Teens. I will not take the chance of using a condom because there is a 1 out of 4 chance that I may get pregnant. Being abstinent can also prevent HIV and other deadly diseases. I know the most efficient way to prevent this, is to remain abstinent until I am mentally and emotionally prepared for marriage.

I also think that it is very important to give back to the community by being a role model to all the future teen aged girls like me, who constantly live under pressure to find love by having sex. I know that I am looked up to as a role model and I want my future to be bright. Therefore I will take responsibility for myself and the future by being apart of this great movement and remaining abstinent until marriage.

Alan Akins, 15
Claire Memorial Church Club, Jersey City, NJ

Life is as delicate as a peach on a tree. It can rot before it even ripens. And the only thing supporting you is the stem, and the tree. When you truly value your life you protect it, and you can make quick, moral decisions on how you are going to live it.

Abstinence usually comes up, way more than once however. You think! What’s the fun in that? Well, it’s not supposed to be fun. It’s all about respecting yourself and (protecting) your partner from a life of desperation and misfortune. I choose to abstain to avoid these things. There are many evil commandeers of life such as STDs and teen pregnancy. Estimated on earth, almost every person is worth one million dollars, and when you think about it that’s a whole lot of money. Though when you let people use you sexually, your value goes down, and gets lower. When you disrespect yourself, your value goes down. Then what’s the point in valuing life? You didn’t abstain like a moral person, and now you have an STD, with which you can never be pleasured by another again. Unless you plan to spread it further, and you destroy the lives of others to make yourself feel better even if only for a moment.

Abstinence is the key to sexual respect. Wait until the night of your marriage so that your partner can know they are with a person who respects themselves. The person who waits until they are ripened and ready to be taken down from the tree so the world can experience their beauty, is the fortunate one.

You could be an amazing person one day, but no one will know it, because you may not have abstained, and your desire to let anyone get close to you fades. Just like you must love another, you must always love yourself and be the best you can be. Marriage is the light that will relieve you from the darkness and cast away any problems you may have in the future, and you can go through them with your partner. So abstain from sex until marriage, and preserve your dignity.

Shaquirah Griffin, 14
Higher Call Church, Jersey City, NJ

Where do I belong?
All over the world, from adolescence to adulthood we as people are always in search for a place to belong. It can start as simple as hanging out with a certain group in high school to finding a suitable partner.
I’ve been searching for a place where I can belong. A place where as a young teen I can be myself, a place where my point of view is respected. An environment where I can share some of the same common interests and similar values. Being a part of Free Teens has granted me a learning atmosphere where I can grow as an individual.
Free Teens has instilled the core values to respect myself, make smart decisions and abstain from sex until marriage. Where I live there is a teen pregnancy epidemic. Everyone I know and see has had a baby during their teenage years. I refuse to be included in that statistic. Question, “How can I get away from the idea of not caring about the consequences of my actions?” I’ve always set goals for myself and when I look around it’s hard to keep myself motivated knowing that other people don’t care as much as I do. My mind wonders everyday about how I plan to make the next step to being a better person. I understand now how true it is to watch the people you hang around. In some ways whether it’s directly or indirectly we are all influenced by the company we keep. You know the saying, you’re known by the company you keep. Being apart of Free Teens gives me the option of hanging out with a different crowd and being proud about it.
I choose to abstain from sex until marriage because I choose to be a leader and stand up for what I believe in. I believe that the best way to protect yourself and be 100% sure is to remain abstinent, wait until the time is right, understand that life is filled with obstacles and strive to make wise healthy decisions.

The 1st Teen Leadership Council of Jersey City to be established at Snyder High School
10.16.06

Snyder High School Administrators and Faculty members met today with Free Teens presenters and the CultureMachine director to discuss possible solutions to offer to the 1200 students of the Snyder High School. At the end of their meeting, the 3 organizations decided to join forces and work together to establish the 1st Free Teen Leadership Council of Jersey City at Snyder High School. Here are some of the pictures of their 1st meeting held at Snyder's Cafeteria. Come back to learn more about this powerful and transformational partnership.