MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A South Florida woman is helping to give inner city teenagers the life skills they need to ensure that they have a successful future.
Today, teens watch more reality television shows than ever before. Shows that focus on relationship drama, glamorize fighting and promote what relationship counselor Dr. Jacqueline Del Rosario says is "unrealistic" reality.
"I want young people to know entertainment is not real life, and I think that's the number one reason youth today are making poor choices," Del Rosario said.
Every year, Del Rosario and her charity Recapturing the Vision, host a Teen Empowerment Summit -- a day where students from across South Florida can come and get life skills and advice, but most importantly, tools to success.
Miami Northwestern High School senior Lamar Allston said he needed to hear these messages.
"When you live in the ghetto, you don't get a chance to be anything because people put you down," Allston said.
Allston said he especially wanted to learn about how to manage money.
"It teaches me that if I manage my time and my money, I would live a happy life," he said.
For Piper High School student Gabrielle Ottey, peer pressure can be hard to manage. She said knowing what to say in certain circumstances is helpful.
"I was excited to learn more about how to mange your life and how to control your emotions and how to sustain yourself in relationships," she said.
Del Rosario and her team of motivational speakers give the students a road map for success in money management, navigating college, relationships and much more.
For Leia Armbrister , a senior at Miami Northwestern, this came at the right time in her young life.
"I love it. It's very enlightening. It's teaching me about life, about my self, " Armbrister said.
Hundreds of students attend the summit every year from South Florida schools, and even though it's one day, past students said the advice has been invaluable.
"Mentoring is something we hear a lot about and people don't realize how valuable mentors are," Del Rosario said.
Click here for more on the Teen Empowerment Summit and the other programs offered by Recapturing the Vision.