Christopher Charles Owan Memorial Scholarship

The fundamentals of achieving goals, especially academically have been a challenging considering mental health, stability, and stress management. Mental health being most important, it has impacted daily lives when left alone, uncared for. Similar to a wound— one must pay attention to it and care for it so it can heal, at least clean it, right? It’s not as easy as it seems, and unfortunately it has impacted my daily life as well. As a recovering addict at the age of 16, and starting full time work at the same time, my academic journey was nonetheless an out of reach experience to me. I dropped out of high school at the same time, heading down a path I would either learn from or let consume me. During this period of my life, I came to a close overdose one night and had a choice of either staying on my carpet floor, scarping up bits of my life while I scavenge for another fix, or stand up and provide a solution to a problem that has to be recognized by me, and only me. This was a shifting moment of my life, after 6 months of depression, anxiety, addiction, and substance abuse I have been sober since 2017. Since then, I’ve enrolled back into high school in 2018 after moving to Colorado on my own and working full-time, becoming apart of the Class of 2020. Moving into my own apartment, finding work in Tucson, AZ after COVID hit, and going to psychotherapy and psychiatric appointment to stabilize my mental health, and cope with dilemmas as experiences in my life. It has not been easy, as there are dark days when I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Recovering from addiction, depression and being diagnosed as Bipolar has been a challenge, learning experience, and a long journey. It’s affected my confidence, stress levels, and handling/ regulating emotions. Daily life events that prove stressful may become overwhelming, pushing doubt into existence instead of willpower. Since starting college in 2021, I have been through so much mental health journeys of ups and downs, doubts and fears, but only to be graduating 4 years later with my associates in business administration. My social life had a great impact as isolation from addiction caused me to lose a lot of close people in my life, which taught me the value of family, community, education, and connection. I’ve struggled making simple friends, as many do, and forced myself to face the uncomfortable again, and again. This has built me into the resilient leader I am confident to say I am. Running a residential home cleaning business and working full-time while attending college full-time has taught me much about myself, my abilities, my weaknesses and strengths. Through the years, and til this day, mental health and my diagnoses and experiences have had negative impacts on both my academic journey and social life, it’s also shaped me into the person I am today, and someone who is always looking for ways to grow, improve and make better decisions everyday. Speaking of the month of April, this was the month in 2018 I also decided to quit substance abuse and journey into the unknown. Here I am today, graduating with my associates in business administration and leading a team of 18 people and running my own business. It’s always a journey, and a learning experience we all go through differently.