Team 11 Project

You are a nineteen year old African American boy in a lower class family. You dropped out of highschool and worked at a factory warehouse for the last 3 years. You just started visiting the Northside Neighborhood House to get tutored by college students and hopefully get your GED. You're pretty smart and very nice, but vulnerable to the opinions of your peers because you always try to please everyone Your goal is to pass your exam and receive your GED. [[start a new day]]

Good morning, Vince! How did you sleep? Not so good? That's probably because you stayed out late with your friends and only got 4 hours of sleep. Well, you have a few minutes to get ready to get to work on time. What are you going to do? [[Eat some breakfast and show up late]] [[Skip breakfast, but make it to work on time]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Sleep is always important, Vince. But looks like you slept too much. It's now 9:03 and you're officially late to work. You have a few choices here: You can hurry and get dressed, go to work, and be thirty minutes late. Hopefully your supervisor won't be there yet, since you know he likes to roll in whenever he feels like it. [[Hurry to Work]] You can take some time to make breakfast, even if it's the simplest thing, and then make it to work. If you do this it's more likely that the supervisor will catch you showing up late, but he likes you enough that he might let it slide. [[Play it Risky]] You can say to hell with it and stay home. You work hard, you deserve a break from work. They don't fully appreciate what you do for the company anyways, so let's see how they handle a day without you. [[Stay Home]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Your boss is upset that you keep showing up late. Now you have to stay longer at work and you aren't able to get home on time and you're going to miss tutoring today. It seems like no matter what you do you can't seem to catch a break, maybe tomorrow you should just sleep in, a little extra sleep never hurt anyone. Plus, most of the guys at the warehouse show up late all the time, so it's not really a big deal. Your boss knows you're a nice guy and don't mean anything bad by showing up late, and he's aware that you've been going to tutoring to try and get your GED, but he still needs the job done. Time to finish your work and head out. [[start a new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Your boss is happy that you are making it to work on time and notices you're looking really tired. He knows that you're trying to get your GED at the Northside Neighborhood House and offers that you take some breaks throughout the day to rest, or grab something to eat. However tutoring starts in just a few hours and if you take breaks you won't be able to get all your work done before tutoring starts, and you'll end up being late. [[Take some breaks]] [[Just finish work]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Good choice, Vince. You make it to the bus stop on time, and you get off on your stop and head over to the factory. You swipe your card and get into the building. You put your safety goggles on and go straight to your forklift. The boss shows up just as you unload your first load. He calls you down and tells you he's happy to see you working hard and setting the example for the rest. He even tells you that you can leave early if you want so you can make it to your tutoring on time. Your stomach rumbles and growls the entire conversation, but lucky for you the loud machines drown it out. You climb back on your forklift. Feeling good about yourself, you continue to work until it's time for you to leave. [[Head Home]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You made a bold, but probably smarter, move. You can't work on an empty stomach, especially not as a forklift driver. You could kill someone if you get distracted, and that's a great way to lose your job. After heating up a PopTart, you grab it and head straight for the bus stop. On your way there you see one of the friends you hung out with last night. He asks if you want to head over to the corner store and buy a pack of Swishers. [[Maybe later, I need to get to work]] [[Spark up]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Sleep is better than money anyway. You can't work if you're tired. You get up to make yourself some toast with peanut butter. Your phone buzzes and it's your friend from tutoring saying he's on his way with a few grams and a pack of Swishers. What do you say? [[Make up a lie]] [[Spark up]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

After getting back home, you grab your bookbag and make yourself a sandwich and grab a bag of chips to eat on the way to tutoring. You know you made the right decision by going in to work hungry because it gave you time to eat afterwards. Now you will be able to focus while learning and making progress towards getting your GED. [[Tutoring]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

He tells you it's all good. He wishes you luck and tells you he'll see you later at tutoring. You get on the bus and after the long ride get off on your stop. You swipe in to work, grab your goggles, and start your shift. Your supervisor calls you in to his office over the loudspeaker, so you unload what you're carrying and head over. Your boss tells you he's dissapointed that you showed up late. He knows you're working to get your GED, so lets you explain why you were late today. This is very frustrating, considering you are one of the hardest working people at the warehouse and you have never seen your boss even notice when another person shows up late, even though they do it ALL the time. It aggitates you to the point where you even want to leave. [[Storm out]] [[Explain]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You chose to get high, but you end up getting too high. You order a pizza to calm your munchies an you end up knocking out, missing work and your tutoring session. Maybe tomorrow will bring better decisions for you. [[start a new day]] [[new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

"I can't today, man. I gotta go pick up my cousin from school." He calls you out for being a "fake friend" and leaves before you can even explain yourself. Do you want to stick to your guns and make him angry or chase after him and spark up? [[stick with it]] [[Spark up]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

It's 8:26 and you have work 15 minutes away that starts at 8:45. You've already hit the snooze button. Twice. You're just so exhausted from staying up late every night this week preparing for your GED test. It's messing up your sleep schedule and you just want those few extra minutes of sleep... [[Get up]] [[Snooze one more time, I can be late once]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You pick a spot near the back and wave to your friends James and Treyvon as you walk by. You get one on one tutoring help for about two hours and you learn all about the trigonometry and algebra you need for your test. You feel very accomplished and proud of yourself for understanding those challenging concepts. [[Move onto tomorrow ]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You storm out, insulted at the fact that he called you out when other employees are worse than you. You don't even look back at your boss as the door slams behind you. You make your way home and realize there's enough time for you to make yourself a decent lunch before going to tutoring. Or, you could just skip tutoring all together and stay home, not wanting to deal with the lady that runs the Neighborhood House. [[Tutoring]] [[Stay home]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

He listens to your reasons, and is understanding. He asks that you try to make sure it doesn't happen again, and lets you continue with your job. You work until it's time for you to punch out. [[Tutoring]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Today just isn't your day, Vince. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. [[new day]] [[start a new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

That's it. All of the time and effort you put in to getting your GED was squandered because you didn't to want to continue. You end up working at that factory for the rest of your life. Hope all's well now, Vince [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You end up talking with your friends at work during your breaks and lose track of time. Your friends were really glad to see you and catch up. They ask if you want to hang out later, but you say no because you know you need to get to tutoring. They seem annoyed that you're bailing on them for school, and it sticks in the back of your head, but you know you need to get to tutoring. Your GED is more important in the end. Do you still want to keep talking? You're still pretty tired and someone just showed up with a box of donuts, and you missed breakfast. [[Stay and eat]] [[Just finish work]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Nice, you got all your work done at the warehouse and are able to go home on time to get to tutoring. You see some friends at Northside Neighborhood House and stop by to say hello. [[Stop and join the conversation]] [[Just say hi and go to class]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Well you just spent the last hour hanging in the halls with your friends, and when you finally get out of the conversation you head to the classroom, where all the tutors are already helping other students. You sit down quietly but don't get any help for showing up too late. You get up early and go home. [[start a new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get to class on time and the tutors greet you with a smile. Most of the tables are open but some of your friends are sitting on the left side. [[Go sit by some friends]] [[Sit alone]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You sit down by your friend James and Treyvon. They're super talkative and distract you from getting any work done or getting any help from the tutors available. You check the clock and see that the tutoring session ends in 15 minutes and decide to call it a day and head home. Looks like you'll be staying up late again tonight to study some more. [[start a new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You've just had a successful day working at the factory and going to tutoring. You're feeling pretty confident about taking the test for your GED, which is good because it's tonight. You still have work today and there's a quick review session before the exam that you definitely need to go to. Ready to [[wake up?]] Or do you want a few more minutes to [[sleep in?]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get caught up in the conversation and donuts, and you lose track of time and still have about half the day's work left to finish, despite tutoring starting in an hour. You end up staying too late at work and aren't able to make it home on time to go to tutoring. Another day wasted. [[start a new day]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You wake up on time and now your decision is whether or not you want to head to work or call in because you want to study more for the exam. You know that your boss won't be happy if you call out of work today, but at the same time you want to get some [[extra sleep]] before the review session to make sure you're well rest and will really nail this test. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Okay well it's been twenty minutes since you turned off your alarm, and now it's almost time to be at work, but you're not even ready. You can choose to [[skip it]] all together and focus more on the test or you can [[go to work]] and try to balance it out. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get out of bed and get dressed for your job and show up just on time. Your boss is happy to see that you've made it on time but he can tell you look stressed. You are stressed. You're at work when you wish you were sleeping, and you still want extra preparation before your exam. It's all you can think about and it's really hindering your ability to perform at your job. You really wish you could just go home early and get some more study time... You really don't want to tell your boss that you're sick because he'll call your bluff and tell that you're lying... It's probably better you just try to [[sneak out.]] On the other hand, you could try to [[tell your boss]] that you need to leave to make sure you're ready for the exam, since he knows it's something important to you. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Well, you decided to pull out your materials for the exam, and it seems like the extra time studying is really helping. You figured out a trick for math, and learned about a tip for the reading and writing portion of the exam as well. You start pulling out your social studies notes when you get a call from your boss. He makes it short and simple and lets you know that you are fired and don't need to show up anymore. Hopefully you're ready for the test so you can get a new job and not suffer for the mistake of getting fired. You feel really bad and are getting pretty hungry, do you want to [[go downstairs]] and grab some food and keep studying, or [[call your friends]] to get a burger down the street? [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You made an easy sandwich and got right back to your room to keep studying. The study session before the exam is coming up so even though you're feeling guilty about getting fired, you pick up your things and start heading over to the [[study session.]] But, on the other hand, you don't want to socialize since you're so embarassed about being fired from your job. Would you rather [[stay home]] and study more there instead? [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You call up James and Treyvon and they say they'll meet you at Kopp's to grab a nice burger and fries. You start to feel a little better knowing your friends are there for you when you need someone to help cheer you up. You pack up your materials and head over [[to Kopp's.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide to head over to the study session with your advisor anyway. You still can't wrap your head around the idea of being fired from your job and dealing with how disappointed your boss is, and what might happen if you don't pass the exam. There is a lot on the line and your mental health is taking a big toll, but there's no other choice but to [[take the exam.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You eat the best burger of your life and are feeling so much better, in fact, you are feeling even more confident for the test than ever before. The study session is in a few minutes and since James and Treyvon are also taking the test you convince them to [[go with you.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You and your friends make it to the study session a couple minutes early which gives you enough time to take out your things and get situated. As you go through the materials with the advisor, you already know all the answers, and have nothing else on your mind except for [[acing this test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Well sulking by yourself didn't get you very far and you couldn't think about anything except for you job, and what is going to happen to you if you fail your exam. You can't focus on any of your notes and you see that it's almost time to start heading to the building to [[take the exam.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

It comes time to take the exam and you discover that you left your pencils at home. You have to walk up in front of everyone to ask the teacher for an extra pencil, which adds to your embarassment for today. You walk back to your seat and can feel everyone's eyes watching you. Your mind is racing thinking about your last job, and the risk it brings if you don't pass this test. The teacher begins to hand out the papers and you set yours in front of you. You write your name on the top of the page and [[start the test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get the test packet handed to you while you're sitting at the desk. You flip it open to the first page and begin to read the first question of the Math portion of the test. Factor the following quadratic x^2+14x+49 [[ a]] ) x=7, x=7 [[ b]] ) x=14, x=2 [[ c]] ) x=-7, x=-7 [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get the test packet handed to you while you're sitting at the desk. You flip it open to the first page and begin to read the first question of the Math portion of the test. Complete the following equation: 60/x =15. Solve for x [[a]] ) 4 [[b]] ) 14 [[c]] ) 2 [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide to sleep in to get some extra rest, since your sleep schedule has been so bad from you staying up late studying most nights. You are suddenly woken up when you hear your phone buzzing on your nightstand. It's your boss. You decide not to answer, fearing the worst. In your heart you know sleeping in was the wrong thing to do and it's giving you a terrible feeling in your stomach. You check your phone again and there's a voicemail. You decide that you would rather concern yourself more with your exam than your job, so you decide to [[delete the voicemail.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You quickly head out of the building and make your way down the street back to your house. Before you can even reach home you feel your phone buzzing in your pocket. It's your boss. You decide not to answer, fearing the worst. In your heart you know it was the wrong thing to do and it's giving you a terrible feeling in your stomach. You check your phone again and there's a voicemail. Do you want to listen or delete it? [[open it]] [[delete]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide to delete the voicemail without listening to it. You feel very guilty and slightly afraid for what might happen after this exam. You knew your boss for a long time and are sad you disappointed him by leaving, but now you'll never know what he's going to say. Since you decided to go to work you don't even have time to get a quick study session before you start the exam. You're feeling very unconfident and are thinking more about your work situation than actually doing well on the test. Oh well, it's time to [[start the test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Your boss starts off very upset and you begin to feel very badly. You've worked there for the past few years and you knew eachother very well, which is why it was so hard for you to make the decision to leave. Just as you think he's finished he starts again, "You know, Vince, you're a great kid and I respect what you're doing for yourself, trying to get you GED and all. I hope I don't see you back in the factory, you deserve better than this for how hard you work. I wish you the best of luck. Take care, Son." After hearing the message, you know you made the right choice. You head home to finish up your studying, more determined than ever to pass your exam. Now it's time to move on to [[acing this test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You tell your boss about your situation and how you feel really unprepared for your exam, and that you think it would be really beneficial for you to leave work right away to study more. Your boss seems upset that you would even ask after your history of showing up late for work. He tells you that if you leave you will be fired. That felt like a punch in the stomach. You thought he would be more understanding but apparently he's very upset with the thought of you trying to get out of work to study more. You [[head back]] to work to finish out your shift. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You get back to your position at work and finish out your shift. When you clock out you realize you only have about 15 minutes to get to the exam. Since you decided to go to work you don't even have time to get a quick study session before you start the exam. You're feeling very unconfident and are thinking more about your work situation than actually doing well on the test. Oh well, it's time to [[start the test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide to delete the voicemail without listening to it. You feel very guilty and slightly afraid for what might happen after this exam. You knew your boss for a long time and are sad you disappointed him by not showing up, but now you'll never know what he's going to say. You're feeling very unconfident and are thinking more about your work situation than actually doing well on the test. You start to regret getting the extra sleep because although you feel much more rested, you can't think about anything except your boss and work. Oh well, it's time to [[start the test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Well that Math section was really easy, time to move onto the science portion. What is the chemical equation for Water? [[a ]]) C6H12O6 [[b ]]) H2O [[c ]]) PO6H2C6 [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Are you sure you read the question correctly? Your previous studying has prepared you for this question and you don't think that this was the right choice, wasn't the answer actually choice [[a]]? [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Science didn't seem too bad. You recall the tutors that helped you out with it and make a mental note to go back and thank them personally for everything they did for you. Now it's time for social studies. What do each of the 50 stars in the American Flag stand for? [[a ]]) Number of letters in the English Aplhabet [[b ]]) Number of teams in the NFL [[c ]]) Number of states in the country [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Alright, everything has been good so far. Now it's time for the final section of the test; Language Arts. What style were Shakespeare's works written in? [[a ]] ) Iambic Pentamiter [[b ]] ) Olde English [[c ]] ) Post-Modern [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You stick to your lie as he leaves, and ask him if he'll be at tutoring. He says nothing. You start feeling bad for letting Anthony down. He's been there for you before, and all he wanted was to hang out. Don't let it get into your head, though. You have other matter to concern yourself with. You have your tutoring to go to later today, that is, if you're not feeling too bad about yourself. Anthony won't be there. Right? [[Tutoring]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Another day, another dollar right Vince? At least, that's the way things are looking right now. It's almost time for work. So what's it gonna be? [[sleep in?]] [[get ready]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You drag yourself out of bed after what can only be described as a terrible sleep. Sure, staying up late to study really took a toll, but the horrible day you had leading up to it didn't help much. You decide it's best that you eat something before going to work today. After you make breakfast you decide to make your way to the factory. Your boss is there waiting for you and asks you to [[go see him]] in his office after you clock in. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

"Vince, you've been working here for a long time now. And I've seen the work ethic you have and how much you care about what you do day in and day out. I know that you're going to school and all, and I commend you for that. Listen, I'm in need of a new shift supervisor here, and I wanted to offer it to you first. It's more hours you'd have to dedicate here, but also an increase in pay. Starting wage is $15/hour. It's all yours if you're willing to stop attending your GED classes. I'll give you some time to think about it." [[Take it]] [[Sleep on it]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You tell him right away that you'll take it. He looks at you, astonished that you didn't wait at all, and reluctantly starts the promotion process. He congratulates you and asks that you head back out onto the factory floor and allow him to continue his work inside. You walk out and immediately pull out your phone to call and tell your family and friends. All of your friends koe around saying that you'll be the one paying for everything now. Your family, on the other hand, is upset that you won't be going through with getting your education. You explain that you're in a good position in your life now, and that eventually you'll go back to school, just not right now. You finish up the calls and then go to finish your shift too. You still have time today to go to take your GED. Do you want to continue? [[Same old same old]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide it's best to sleep on it. Hopefully this won't weigh in the back of your mind as you prepare to take your test today. If you still want to take it, that is. You have enough time to get some studying in after your shift. Or you could speed up the application process, too. What'll it be? [[Finish and go]] [[Finish and stay]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You finish up the test and have enough time to go and review all of your answers. Everything looks good so you get up to turn in the packet. You can either wait outside for all of your friends or head back to Northside to talk with the tutors. [[Northside]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

As soon as you walk in everyone congratulates you. You're shocked because the results aren't even in yet and everyone is celebrating as if you've succeeded. You ask your favorite tutor what's going on and he tells you how proud he and the rest of the tutors are that you were able to go through the tutoring and even take your test. He knows some people didn't think you could do it and he's glad you proved them all wrong. You stick around to enjoy the celebration with everyone else and eventually head home. You did a good job, Vince. [[tomorrow]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

A week by. Since you don't have a job anymore you've been going to Northside every day to help in whatever way you can. You've been sweeping, mopping and even tutoring some of the new kids who have been showing up. One day as you're tutoring a kid the director of Northside pulls you out of the room and into her office. She pulls out an envelope and hands you the document inside; your GED. Congrats, Vince. You are now an educated man. Your life goes on to be better than you could have ever imagined, all because you put in the right amount of work. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Time for Science. You flip open the booklet and start the section What shape is a water molecule? [[ a]] Trigonal Bi-Pyramidal [[ b]] Tetrahedral [[ c]] Bent

Time for Science. You flip open the booklet and start the section What shape is a water molecule? [[ a]] [[ b]] [[ c]]

You finish up the science portion and start on Social Studies Who was the 16th Vice President of the United States? [[ a]]) Abraham Lincoln [[ b]]) Andrew Johnson [[ c]]) John Addams

The final section is reading. Hopefully you can get htis, Vince. Reading is your worst subject. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by. And that has made all the difference." Who is the author of the above passage? [[ a ]]) E.E. Cummings [[ b ]]) Langston Hughes [[ c ]]) Robert Frost

You get up and hand your test packet in. You had no time to review your answers, so hopefully you answered all of the questions correctly. There's a lot riding on this Vince. You should probably head over to Northside to say goodbye to the tutors. [[Northside]]

You didn't make it, Vince. A whole year down the drain. Now you'll have to wait until next year. Why didn't you study more? Why weren't you more focused? All of these questions race through your mind, and the most important one hits last; Is it worth it? [[ no]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

It's better to go to the session and quickly review as much as you can before the exam. It's gonna be tough, even with all of the practice you've had. Still think you can do this, Vince? It's never too late to back down... [[start the test.]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You decide to leave your education behind, whether permanent or not is still to be determined. You finish up your shift by driving the lift back to where it's supposed to be. You just can't seem to get your boss' look out of your mind. Why wasn't he happy for you?You're moving up in the world, you're doing what's best for you in the now, and the now is all that matters. Right? [[Yes]] [[No]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

You want to look ahead more. There's more to life than the here and now. You realize this and quickly make your way to the study session. You get there just as they're finishing up. You'll have to rely on what you've learned from the past year. Are you ready to [[start the test.]]? [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Who cares about looking ahead? Even as simple as looking 5 seconds ahead of where you're driving the fokrlift doesn't matter. It's not like you'll crash it and almost hit your co-workers with it because you were too caught up in your head, right?... Right? [[aftermath]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Your boss comes running at you to pull you off of the lift. He yells at you in front of everyone, and you feel your ears get hot like how they always do when you're nervous, scared, or anxious. After he's all done he tells you to get the hell out of there right away. And just like that, it's all over. You've lost your job. You can still make it to the GED test. If you're not feeling too down about yourself. I mean, it's not like he could've died. Right? [[study session.]] [[call it a day]]

Vince, you've really outdone yourself. You're too ashamed to even go take the test, one that you've been studying for for a full year now. You end up moving in with one of your cousins and get a job with him at a packaging company. You never go back to get your GED, and end up at the company until you retire. Sorry, Vince. It just wasn't meant to be. [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

Alright, then. [[Same old same old]] [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]

It takes you years, but you finally work up the courage to go back and try one last time to get your GED. Whether you get it or not is completely up to you Vince. So, what'll it be? [[Welcome to Vince's Life ]]