Cats are fast moving, smart, and nimble creatures that are best at surviving on their own in the wild. Two things that North Penn student Cyncere Terry has in common with cats is that he always lands on his feet and he has always been able to survive, especially in life or death situations.

“It was something that my grandmother came up with. She wanted our (me and my brother’s) initials to be CAT. The initials were a trend that went back like four generations in our family,” Terry said.

Cyncere Ali Terry is a seventeen year old boy with a very rare name and an even more rare backstory. He has eight siblings, all half relatives besides his identical twin brother. He comes from a very big family, but when he was just seventeen years old a tear even bigger ripped them apart when he and his twin brother were put into the foster care system.

“Ever since I went into the foster care system my siblings and I sort of drifted apart besides me, my twin brother, and my sister I used to live with,” Terry confessed.

Terry himself has moved four times and when asked about the mental effect this had on him. “It’s not the moving itself that hurts, it is the drama with all the different families you end up living with,” Terry explained. 

The foster care system can be very disorderly and there are many pros and cons to it but at one point in his life it seemed like the cons outweighed the pros. 

“Some social workers I had were not the best and my previous neighborhoods I lived in were  worse than my initial living conditions,” Terry stated, explaining the cons of the foster care system.

Even while being in the foster care system, Cyncere Terry still remains empathetic to those around him, even if they don’t necessarily deserve it. 

“I try to see things from other people’s point of view. Leaving my original household made me feel guilty because I felt like I was betraying my family, so yeah that part itself has definitely affected me mentally,” Terry elaborated.

Both Cyncere and his brother were put in foster homes in the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia itself has crime rates that have skyrocketed through the roof within years and in living in those homes Cyncere himself has witnessed this violence. 

“There’s also some positives for older youth, you can get opportunities for free education at colleges, free housing, and you can be paid to take classes based on life skills,” Terry explained, taking note of the pros of being in the foster care system as well.

He also praises the family he lives with now, here in Lansdale, for their overwhelming support and love.

“The lady I’m living with now, Mrs. Mary, her family has been so nice to me. I have been getting so much support from her family, they’ve paid for the phone I have now and I’ve been invited to their own family events. The family is full of people with successful careers in law and psychology. It’s very inspiring. They are the best family that I’ve got so far,” Terry stated.

During his last move to North Penn Terry had no clue what was in store for him.

“I had never really been in the suburbs before until now. The education here is a lot better than my previous schools and there are many opportunities. There are more classes, more people. I definitely think the people here are more friendly and capable of having a genuine conversation than the people in Philly because it is so violent there,” Terry elaborated.

Before attending North Penn Cyncere Terry attended three different Philadelphia high schools. All of which did not offer any extra curricular classes or clubs other than a few sports. Cyncere used to play football and has now started taking part of the wrestling team here at North Penn.

“I had no previous history in wrestling before this year, it’s fun once you really get to practicing. The people on the team here seem like really good people,” Terry mentioned.

Along with wrestling he has joined the African American Awareness club and is interested in taking part of any other clubs he comes upon. Cyncere Terry also has an interest in the arts as he heavily enjoys drawing and painting.

“I used to draw characters from the video game, Five Nights at Freddies but now I mostly draw people. I also won an art contest in middle school for a self portrait I made. It was put in an art auction,” Terry added.

Cyncere Terry has committed his life to taking advantage of his new found opportunities here at North Penn High School and is an advocate for reform and awareness in the foster care system. Unlike his favorite animal cats, who have nine, Cyncere Terry has lived through so much in only one life.