Audio File
Transcript
My name is Charles Auman and I am 14 years old.
My name is Darrel Pullie. I am 16 years old.
We interviewed Trevaun Hairston on the 15th of June, 2018.
My connection to Hazelwood is this is where I was born and raised. This is where I’ve been at since the beginning. I never left. I mean, there was like violence and stuff, but like, it was fun. We was outside all day doing whatever, from football, basketball, hide and go seek, release the din, you know, games, that y’all probably don’t even be playing no more. But it was fun. It was a fun time. Lost a lot of friends and gained some friends. Been through hard times, you know, but I’m still here. So that’s a blessing and I’m investing myself into the community and the youth around here.
My father, I grew up without him. Like at first, he used to pick me up every other weekend and stuff like that. But like he took the wrong road, went to jail. He got out a few years ago. But before he got out, he was in jail the last 10 out of 11 years before that. That’s half my life. But he taught me what not to do, you know? When he was in jail, I learned what could get me taken away from my family, what can hurt my family, what can hurt myself and stuff like that. And then another reason why he inspired me because he was in jail for five years, he got out of jail for one year and went back for six. But when he got out, he did all positive things. He’s taking care of his grandkids, stuff like that, like just doing what’s asked of him, because now that I’m older, he used to be like, “you know, when I come home, I’m gonna do this for you. Do that.” I’m like, “I don’t need that no more. Like, for real like, you missed that.” But now I’m like, “just be good to your grandkids. And you got me. You know, you be good to them, and I’m on your side.”
I graduated from Allderdice 2010, June 21st. Went right to IUP, Punxsy campus by July 4th had, like, a week off, and I graduated from up there in May 2015 with a Health and Phys Ed bachelors and Sports Admin minor. Experience was great. Honestly, like, I had ups and downs. I met a lot of people who I still communicate with today. But like, school experience, you know you don’t got your mom there. You don’t got nobody telling you what to do, you gotta wake up yourself. Go to class. You gotta be disciplined. You gotta study. After school, it was extremely hard. I got out in the summer, so I got a summer job and after the summer job, it took me, like, almost a whole year to find a job, and it wasn’t even in my major. I was working at a rehab facility as a behavioral tech specialist, and I was there for a while until I started my own company.
My goal honestly was to be a NFL player, so I didn’t meet that goal. But besides that, it was to go to school and start my own business and that’s what I did. So I met the main goals that I feel like were worth it. I started a landscaping company called Settled Grounds. Started last year, September. Already received a contract and, you know, just working on building it up and up till it’s known everywhere. My friends pushed me to keep going. We started a music group called Most Grill, which is out of Hazelwood. Even got an artist signed, The Taylor Gang. We’re starting up a construction company too, called Grand Renovations, because it was hard finding jobs. I went and got a trade in construction, so I could just have more stuff under my belt. So I’ll be able to do stuff like real estate and buy houses and stuff like that.
I wouldn’t mind being the president of an organization one day, and my first goal coming out of school was to become part of the Steelers’ front office. I tried and tried to do that, but I still would like to do that too. But my main goal is-is to keep my entrepreneurship going, to have Settle Grounds grow into a mentor piece and stay landscaping, and eventually, you know, be a piece where it could be in Hazelwood and help the youth out too, because even now, like I even hired a couple people and I only hired within the neighborhood because I want to see people around from know that somebody who’s in the same classroom as them and somebody in the same field, who walk the same streets, we capable of doing whatever we want. I wouldn’t even consider myself successful, yet. I mean, I overcame. I went to school, I got a business, I got trades under my belt. Like, I’m still going through everyday struggles, living check to check. I still feel like I got like a long way to go.
Having a daughter, that changed my life greatly, you know, even the way I go about things, I gotta take her into consideration. Like, when I’m out on how I treat females and how I’m gonna be the rest of my life because she sees me. You know how I treat her mom and whatever, she sees, she picks up on. You know, she’s nine months and like, she changed my life for the better for sure.
My mom name is Tiffany Turner. She’s big in the community. She worked at the rec center like my whole childhood, so she was always involved in the community. So it was just like, I just picked up right behind her. I just want my legacy, to be just me being viewed as just a positive role model, just being there for my community and my family. Everything I do in between, it’s like for everybody else, honestly. I think about building for my daughter’s grandkids, you know, making sure they’re OK, cause like, if I’m just thinking about tomorrow, I’m not gonna get nowhere. You really gotta plan for down the line, like, literally generations. You could come from an urban area. You come from violence. You come from poverty, you come from despair and you could make something out of that. You could be positive, you could still go to school, you could pick up trades, you could coach, do anything. Like, I just find any way to increase my skill set and just help out as many people as I could. Everything’s in arms’ reach if you stay focused, determined. If you know what you want, put a plan behind it, write it down. Write down your goals, and let it be known what you’re trying to do and that people around will help you, and you’ll be surprised how much people are willing to help you when you’re willing to help yourself.