Trials and Tribulations by Kegen

Trials and Tribulations by Kegen - May 2023 Scholarship Essay

Kegen Wells
Personal Statement
Trials and Tribulations
I was handed a trash bag. “Put your essentials in here and don’t worry about the rest. You only have ten minutes, then we’ll head to the office”, my social worker said, as she escorted herself and a police officer into my bright room. I filled up my trash bag with what I thought I needed, two outfits, a hair brush, hygienic products, a family picture, my phone charger, and a necklace that my grandmother had given me. Materialistic nothingness, when I think about what I forgot that day. In my childhood bedroom, the quotes about Journalism hung with my aspirations dangling, my dreamcatcher held all of those hopes for my future, my comforter draped perfectly on both sides of the bed representing the stability that stayed there, I know it did because it didn’t come with me. Foster care taught me that I can make an impact, help others, and create my own destiny.
I was fourteen and it was two months before I started my journey into high school, so starry-eyed for the future to come, but my parents weren’t allowed to see it. I took my own first day of school picture and thought about how I’ll send it to them when I go back home. I didn’t see home until around four months later. I developed a hatred for mail, as the only thing I got were huge yellow envelopes that held my social worker’s reports. Those reports talked about my parents, and how ‘terrible’ they were. A child should not have to read something that brutally attacks their parents, even if they didn’t provide the greatest care. My foster parents were pleasant and did a lot for me, however, the situation really hurt my development and growth, while increasing my anxiety. I had to go to the hospital twice due to chest pain. During the tough trials, my foster parents helped me with my school work and I was able to receive certification in First Aid.
When I was placed back with my family, I started volunteering at ‘Celebrate Recovery’ as a babysitter for the kids. The program was Christian-based and a way to help recovering alcoholics stay out of old habits. My first day of babysitting only consisted of three kids, they were siblings. The oldest was eight and he told me that he was having a hard time because they were taken away from their mother and now living with Grandma, who was in the program. My mind flooded with my own hurtful memories and stories that I didn’t heal from, which I pushed to the side. I remembered how scared I was and how that first night in a new home felt, I took it upon myself to help these kids and be supportive in the journey.
I wanted to help any foster kid that needed it, make sure that they knew they weren’t worthless or an inconvenience. Each week, I got to see slow progress, they smiled more, they looked to the future, and one day, the youngest told me she was “proud to be a foster kid”. I smiled, it made me think I was possibly making a difference. I knew that this was the reason I was given a tough past through foster care, to help those that were still in it, to help someone else.
In life, we won’t always be given a great set of cards, but that doesn’t mean we can't work with them to make the best out of it. Life is crazy and sometimes unfair, but the goal is to realize that it’s completely up to you on what your reaction may be. You always have the choice to make something great. Trials and tribulations will occur, but they force you to grow, change, and adapt for the better. You are in charge of your own future and destiny, no one else.