What has been your biggest achievement during your education and how will it support your future goals? by Adriana

What has been your biggest achievement during your education and how will it support your future goals? by Adriana - August 2023 Scholarship Essay

An accomplishment I'm most proud of would be continuing to fight when I felt like I couldn't. At that point in my life, I didn't think I'd live much longer or really just didn't see the point in fighting. The abuse from my mother, her significant other, and my dad made my childhood challenging. It was hard to come to terms with the fact the people who were supposed to protect me and care for me were actually the ones to sabotage and hurt me most.

To give you a back story on my life, I was born premature with an open heart valve. Meaning I got operated on at two weeks old. Everyone, including doctors, said it would be impossible for me to survive. After the initial surgery, I had multiple procedures done year after year. I was on oxygen and all different types of machines until I turned two. My parents were advised I would need assistance in everything and anything I would do, along with being developmentally delayed in activities and education. Thankfully, God had other plans, and I exceeded everyone's expectations. I am now a sophomore in college, so I think I am doing well!

I don't have many memories of my life from when I was younger than four years old. I only recall how my dad abused my mom and me physically and emotionally. As well as how we weren't permitted to see our family. I would endure mental breakdowns and asthma attacks regularly. However, this stopped once we fled to Georgia after my mother discovered she was pregnant. I thought my life would turn around due to this, but it only got worse. Shortly after moving, I got accustomed to raising my sister alone at the age of four while my mother was gone working or partying with friends at all hours. I was practically a baby taking care of another baby. As we got older, my mother had us moving all around the States because she feared my father would find us. She later began to get entangled in toxic relationships again. During this time, I lost my faith and sight of who I wanted to be.

In this new relationship, I constantly had to interfere in their arguments, but I only did so for my sister. For example, when things really get out of hand, and there were objects being thrown or screams that echoed through the night, I would put the TV volume up all the way or sing and comfort my sister so she could be distracted. On the occasions when I would turn the TV on, I would go to my mom and her partner to tell them to either take time to their selves apart, revisit the conversation later, take the abuse myself, or threaten to call the cops. There were times were my mother would come to me to vent and seek advice when she and her partner would argue, but only if we were alone. It was very uncomfortable for me since I was not only so young but also because she acted as if she was the only one affected by everything happening. She would express how she felt unsafe, how she was always walking on eggshells, how she was tired, how she wanted out, etc., but never did anything about it.

So, really my day-by-day fight was challenging, but I realized later in my life that everyone faces difficulties. As you can imagine, I was affected significantly, but I learned to forgive and forget. It took a while, but over time you realize not everyone is the same, and you must live and learn. Patience is the key, you have to take it one day at a time and focus on what you want for yourself rather than what others want from or for you. If we didn't have struggles in life, then it wouldn't be so memorable. I’m not sure what the future has in store, but I know who has control of the future. So, as long as I stay true to who I am, I don't have to understand because he knows. God brings us joy in the midst of all the chaos. He sees our struggles and reminds us of the small triumphs that await at the end of everything we are facing. All some people need is that tiny bit of hope; that's the tiny push we all need in order to be given the strength to keep going. We're faced with two options, sit there or try again. When you feel that hope is gone, you're all out of options, and you're at the end, choose to fight. Our purpose in life is to keep going even after we fall down. I have learned this the hard way; however, I wouldn't change anything about my life, for it has shaped me into who I am.

Overall, having to endure abuse from age two until turning fourteen and getting bullied from elementary to middle school, I want to help make a change. I want to help those battling like me or even dealing with worse scenarios. I decided to be the opposite of my parents, and not get trapped in their way of thinking or being, as well as pursue an education. I aspire to become a family lawyer and make a real change.