Huntington Station youth chase their dreams

No population group seems to have more at stake in Huntington Station's struggle to overcome violence in its core area and build a sense of community than the more than 4,000 teens and preteens who live in the hamlet.

Many grow up knowing that MS-13 is the notorious Salvadoran gang "Mara Salvatrucha," or that the Tip Top Boys are a local branch of Crips.

Those who want to avoid trouble say they are cautious about where they go and find ways to stay busy -- practicing sports, going to church or hanging out at the Tri Community and Youth Agency, a nonprofit with after-school recreation and tutoring programs.

Dania Merilan, 17, an emigrant from Haiti who arrived in Huntington Station when she was 6, has worked on improving her English, playing soccer and volunteering in school and community projects to keep "away from all the nonsense," she said.

The Huntington High School senior said she feels she has succeeded as she nears graduation this year. She has broken her school's 55-meter dash record and 300-meter record as a star track and field athlete and is applying to several colleges.

It bothers her to hear her community cast in a negative light.

"Everyone needs to stop stereotyping Huntington Station," Merilan said.

Many teens in Huntington Station's troubled core say they have seen what happens to others who stray and don't want to go down the same path.

"Sometimes you don't want to be in certain places at certain times," said Trayvon Toney, 18, a football and track athlete at Huntington High School.

He has never been near trouble, Toney said, because he doesn't look for it.

"It's, like, your choice of how you want to live your life," he said. His choices include "going to college, getting a good education, hopefully fulfilling my dreams" and making his mother proud.

Dahshawn Molina, 18, said he's had to grow apart from friends to avoid gangs. He attends technical school, works as a cashier at a mall and plays in a church basketball league.

He said he knew better when a group he hung out with invited him to go "cut" someone to become initiated in a gang. He thought about how he wanted "to do something that's right for me and my family."

He thought about his future and couldn't see himself hustling in the streets, Molina said. His answer to the gang members? "That's not me. That's not me."

Dozens of teens attended a rally against violence that the Tri CYA organized in February to mark Black History Month at Huntington High School.

Three girls stood onstage to read a poem they had written. One, Nicole Tavares, 15, could barely get words out through sobs.

"I dream to see myself as a professional with a good job," she read. "Martin Luther King would be so disappointed to see how much violence" there is today.