Success Stories

Beating the Odds – The Future is Bright for Agape’s Fortson Twins

By all accounts, the Fortson twins were a challenge – quarrelsome, unenthusiastic, withdrawn.

“They were very confrontational, very aggressive,” says Tiffany Smith, youth program coordinator assistant, of the 16-year-old sisters who first started coming to Agape in the fifth grade. “They had a lot of altercations with other campers. They didn’t get on well with authority.”
    
Now after five years with Agape and its partners, the girls have become role models. Their school grades have improved. They are in ROTC at North Atlanta High School and are seeking internships and part-time jobs this summer. For the first time, their mother hears them talking about wanting to go to college.

They have also become student mediators for Agape kids who have the same behavior issues that once held them back.
   
“I think Agape’s positive reinforcement let them know we do care,” Smith said. “They know they don’t have to put up their guard here, and that we will see them through to the end. We are a constant in their lives. I think that has contributed a lot to their turnaround.”

Also, a stint last summer at CrossFit, a local gym, helped speed their transformation.
      
“The twins came into the gym last summer skeptical about the program, not enthusiastic at all, unwilling to make eye contact with adults and coaches,” said Karen Callen, CrossFit Kids Program Director. “Very quickly, however, that all turned around. They began working really hard in the workouts and truly challenging themselves. They began cheering for and encouraging others during the tough workouts. They won a few skills contests that we had during the summer, winning CrossFit Kids shirts and then wearing them every day with pride. They refused to get discouraged when they couldn't learn a skill and practiced it over and over and over again until they could do it. One day after a workout, the twins left the gym looking me straight in the eye and saying "thank you".
    
Smith said the CrossFit experience helped the twins channel their energy. The future seems unlimited. This past school year, the girls began attending programs at Morehouse and Spelman, where they familiarized themselves with the college experience. They are even focusing on an area of study – forensic science – which they have been attracted to, in part, by their fondness for the television shows “CSI” and “Law and Order.”
   
“I want to work in a lab or do investigations,” RicQuita says.
   
 Agape’s educational mission has been vital.  “They got us tutors and helped us do our work,” BriQuita says. “That really motivated us. We started doing our work. We’re making good grades. I wasn’t interested in college before. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. Now I know. I want to be a forensic scientist. Agape is wonderful. They help people who want to learn.”
    
Their new attitude speaks volumes. “They have really been beating the odds,” Smith said.