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Author's Note
Welcome to my life's testimony and the story of my journey to success so far. I would like my life to be an inspiration to help guide foster youth and former foster youth who are lost like I used to be. It is my dream and mission to inspire the greatness that is buried deep inside them. My name is Ar'mone Clemmons and I was born in Richmond, California, and raised throughout the Sacramento area. From the tender age of seven I was in and out of the foster care system and went back and forth between a home with my mother and living with various foster families. I spent 11 years up until my 18th birthday doing this dance: All told I ended up in over 15 different families, eight different high schools, a children's receiving home, and a high-level group home; and at one point I was homeless with no support. Without a guide to teach me how to live, I had a fear of the unknown and a deep ignorance.

I truly believe that God has allowed each of us to go through our struggles because He has a purpose for each our lives: He hand-picks us to wake up and stop living below our worth. We are battled-tested through the toughest storms because God knows we are stronger than our problems. God has tested me with the sacrifices and trauma in my life, but He has also blessed me to overcome many barriers and negative influences, and has used my life as an example and demonstration for others to succeed. In order for me to grow into the man I am today, I had to take many steps. Over time I learned to win battles that would have previously defeated me. At various times I have been exhausted from fighting through my life, and I thank God for continuing to provide me breath to fight again. I have been self-defeated, misguided, and lost in who I was; however, God found me in those dark places and gave me strength, purpose, and clarity. I feel that it is my life's purpose to provide guidance and hope for other foster youth. Along the way, I doubted my abilities to succeed with no help, support, or guidance, and having to learn on my own how to navigate the world. I believe that what is meant to be will be, and I learned to prepare for-but not stress about-tomorrow. Many times we make it more difficult on ourselves to reach our destinations because we go in a direction that we want instead of the path that we need, worrying ourselves with failed high expectations in the process.

National statistics show that fewer than 10% of former foster youth graduate from college. I represent the less than 1% of former foster youth across California to obtain a master's degree. I am not supposed to be in the position that I am, having become self-sufficient and sharing my life story through these pages. With the odds stacked against me to succeed, and the fact that I am also a young African-American male in times where racism and discrimination is a normal life experience in America, it is nothing less than my faith in God that has allowed me turn a misfortune into a stunning success. My hope is that, if you find yourself in places of darkness like those that I have been delivered from, somewhere in these pages you will find hope and a continued strength to carry on despite the odds in your own life.