Advice: What Matters
Featured: Learning to love herself
“While I was at the Shaw House, the issues that I had were primarily fears of abandonment after having had such little time with my parents when I was growing up. I had a lot of fears of not being socially accepted and a lot of self-esteem issues because I’d been rejected for so long. For me, learning to love myself was a huge step.”
— in Learning to love herself and make better choices for a better future
Featured: Going to college to be a role model for her daughter
“I was seventeen when I applied to UMO. Fortunately, I’d kept decent grades in high school and had great recommendations from teachers. I also had no problem going down to UMO and saying, ‘I came from a disadvantaged background but I’m really trying to break the cycle.’ My dad dropped out of high school, and I don’t want to be in his shoes. He’s still struggling, still working a trade job because he doesn’t have a high school diploma. I wasn’t going to be that person. I wanted to break the cycle.”
— in Going on to college to be a better role model for her daughter
Editor’s Pick: Losing her father and leaving school
“My dad died in 2008 and I dropped out of high school my junior year for about three or four months. I just went to work full-time to keep my thoughts away from school and my dad’s death. I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t want to be faced with the questions about why I hadn’t been in school. It was embarrassing to me. I let my teachers down, I let my mom down; I let a lot of people down. Finally during my senior year I realized that this is not a game; this is real life and I have to support myself. What could I do without an education?”
Our Picks in What Matters
Editor’s Pick: Losing her father and leaving school
“My dad died in 2008 and I dropped out of high school my junior year for about three or four months. I just went to work full-time to keep my thoughts away from school and my dad’s death. I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t want to be faced with the questions about why I hadn’t been in school. It was embarrassing to me. I let my teachers down, I let my mom down; I let a lot of people down. Finally during my senior year I realized that this is not a game; this is real life and I have to support myself. What could I do without an education?”
