Life as a teenage girl isn’t always easy, and unfortunately, for some girls, those early years of life are even more difficult when faced with trauma and other troubles. But one local nonprofit is doing what it can to provide these girls with the support they need.

The Pace Center for Girls in Hillsborough and Pinellas County recently received a $170,000 grant from the Schoen Foundation to help provide students with important programs. One of their students said she doesn’t know where she’d be without their help.  

Taylor is a student at the Pace Center for Girls in Hillsborough County. Lately, she has taken up yoga at school, which she says has helped her learn to cope with the things life has thrown at her. Before practicing yoga, Taylor took classes studying with the other girls at the Pace Center.  

She’s been attending school at the Pace Center for the last eight months, and in that short period of time she said she’s completely turned her life around.  

“I was actually a sophomore in high school last year, and I was told I wouldn’t be able to graduate or get my GED,” said Taylor.  

She described herself back then as a very angry person who had almost lost all hope.

“If I weren’t at Pace right now, I’d probably be at home, sleeping, crying, not doing anything with my life honestly," Taylor said. "Probably a high school dropout, honestly."

Now, like in her yoga classes, she’s learned how to work through uncomfortable feelings and her past trauma. The Schoen Grant helps provide counselors, like Celina Major, who meets with Taylor weekly.

“Being able to see them change in their motivation has been really cool to see," said Major. "I think with working with them in all areas of their life, from home to here, for even work — seeing them work in that way and seeing how they can come here and really focus on themselves."

And while focusing on herself is a fairly new concept, Taylor said she has it mastered. 

 “You have to think of it as, 'OK, this is my mission, this is what I have to do — I’m going to get there, and do it, and I’m not going to let anybody else cross my barrier, or break down my wall, because I don’t need to,'” she said.

Now, Taylor knows she has the perseverance to push through anything, and achieve whatever she sets out to do.  

“You can make the change, and the steps, and perseverance is such a main thing," she said. "I will say that to anybody, you just need to persevere through the things you need to go through, and have patience, because that’s all that matters — the patience, the perseverance, because things do get hard and you’re only going to have yourself at the end of the day.”

Spectrum Bay News 9 is not giving out Taylor’s last name to honor the policies set forth by the Pace Center for Girls.