This past Thursday, all Middletown North students attended an assembly on Project Pride. Project Pride is a program ran by the New Jersey Department of Corrections where prisoners from the state come to different high schools and discuss the mistakes they made to wind up in prison.

One at a time all three speakers said their story. All of them had a common message to send to the student body, decision making. The prisoners were not bad people, they just made the wrong decision at the wrong time and they ended up in big trouble.

The prisoners also described prison life and how awful it really is. The last speaker, Kim, said how, “you lose your voice” when in prison. The first speaker, Liam, said, “prison is the worst experience of my life, but I needed it.” They stressed that nothing they said was sugar coated.

The prisoners promised to make a difference when they finish serving their time. All three plan to be productive citizens after. However, they still all have to pay a price.