Where I Live: Candleridge resident dreamed of leaving Fort Worth. Now she can’t imagine it

By Josephine Juarez

It’s hard for me to claim just one area because I feel as if I’ve been everywhere.

My first job was at Northside Community Center. I grew up in Riverside. I started school just minutes away from my dad’s childhood home in Rock Island. I’m now settled in Polytechnic Heights at Texas Wesleyan University where I spend all my time, despite living in Candleridge. 

Fort Worth creeps up on you. 

Any time I’ve started to doubt my place in Fort Worth, I’m pulled right back into the community 

the “unexpected city” has cultivated. 

Maybe it’s Southern hospitality, or the plethora of things to do day and night. Maybe my love for the city is instinctual — like the lyrics to “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” 

The more likely bet is that I have come to love this city because it’s always loved me.

I’ve lived in Fort Worth my whole life. Growing up, I spent my weekends walking around the 

Fort Worth Zoo and Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

If I was lucky, I’d explore the children’s section of the Fort Worth Public Library after school.

Going anywhere with my dad — also a Fort Worth native — is a history lesson, though he can be a tad hyperbolic. 

What I do know is that I’ve come to love each part of Fort Worth I’ve encountered. 

But that hasn’t meant I haven’t had moments of doubt. 

As I started high school, I thought I had done it all. A mix of teenage emotions and overexposure had made me feel stagnant in a city with so much to offer. 

Then as I started thinking about college, I had this idea that to stay in town was to settle. I dreamed of going to the big city as if I wasn’t already in one of the biggest cities in America. I dreamed of finding a community while ignoring the one Fort Worth had offered my entire life. 

It wasn’t until my senior year that I realized how blind I’d become to all Fort Worth has to offer. 

I started going out again, revisiting the places I once frequented. They had changed, but so had I.

I may not be perusing the children’s section of the library anymore. And rather than playing in the child-sized grocery store, my time in the science museum is spent in the rotating exhibits.

So, as my senior year came to an end and I watched friends commit to colleges across the country, I realized I didn’t want to leave Fort Worth. 

I wanted to stay and give back to the city that had given me so much.

I started volunteering at Riverside Community Center, and for the past two summers I’ve worked for the city’s Camp Fort Worth, which I used to attend as a child. 

I look at how I grew up, and as I picture my future, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather 

be. 

Sure, sometimes I wonder how I don’t melt in the summer, or how I have driven home on Interstate 35 every day without going insane.

But when I think of all that Fort Worth has given me, I know I want a chance to give back.

Josephine Juarez is a sophomore mass communication major and theater minor at Texas Wesleyan University. She is content producer at The Rambler, Texas Wesleyan’s student-run publication. 

Candleridge

Total population: 5,091

Male: 52% | Female: 48%

Age

0-9: 13%

10-19: 14%

20-29: 12%

30-39: 14%

40-49: 13%

50-59: 11%

60-69: 11%

70-79: 9%

80 and older: 3%

Education

No degree: 17%

High school: 20%

Some college: 28%

Bachelor’s degree: 20%

Post-graduate: 14%

Race

White: 32% | Black: 22% | Hispanic: 36% | Asian: 7% | Two or more: 3% 

Click on the links to view the Texas Education Agency ratings for schools within 2 miles:

• Southwest High School
• Hazel Harvey Peace Elementary
• J.T. Stevens Elementary
• Woodway Elementary
• Great Hearts Lakeside
• Texas Can Academy – Fort Worth Westcreek
• Harmony School of Innovation – Fort Worth
• Wedgwood Middle School
• Bruce Shulkey Elementary
• Oakmont Elementary
• Sue Crouch Elementary
• Mary Harris Elementary

Source: Census Reporter