Dr. Mozell Haymon Memorial Scholarship

One day before my birthday in 2022, addiction took my mother, Mandy Ann Williams, through a fatal drug overdose. Today, it still has a hold on my older brother and older sister, who are both battling addiction. Substance abuse is not a distant issue I learned about from a textbook. It has lived inside my family, taken someone I love, and left me with the fear that it may take two more. Birthdays are supposed to celebrate life. Mine now arrives beside the anniversary of one of the most painful days of my life. I am grateful to see another year, yet heartbroken that my mother is not here to share it. Grief can appear without warning—in quiet moments, during milestones, or whenever I wish I could call her. At the same time, watching my siblings struggle means my grief is not only about the past. It is mixed with ongoing worry, helplessness, and hope that they will choose and receive the support needed for recovery. I have learned that loving someone with an addiction means understanding that I cannot fight the battle for them. I can encourage them, refuse to stop seeing their humanity, and protect my own strength, but I cannot make their choices. That truth has been painful to accept. My motivation to face this loss came from deciding that addiction would not be allowed to write the ending of my family’s story. I founded Mandy’s Choice in honor of my mother. Its mission is to create transitional recovery housing for women rebuilding after substance-use challenges, incarceration, or housing instability. I want women to have a safe place to heal and access healthcare, case management, employment preparation, life-skills education, and support toward permanent housing. I cannot bring my mother back, but I can build the kind of support that may help another mother, sister, or daughter make it home. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Chamberlain University while working in corrections and drawing on more than 15 years of experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant. Nursing will prepare me to recognize substance-use concerns, care for patients without judgment, educate families, and connect people with treatment and recovery resources. My experiences have taught me that a person is more than an addiction and that families affected by it also need compassion and guidance. I have maintained a 3.8 GPA while working, operating a small business, and developing Mandy’s Choice. My responsibilities are demanding, but my purpose is stronger than my pain. Receiving this scholarship would help me continue my education and expand the work I am building in my mother’s memory. It would also honor Steven, whose life inspired this scholarship. I will always carry the heartbreak of losing my mother and the worry I feel for my brother and sister. But I also carry determination. I am choosing to turn grief into service, fear into advocacy, and my family’s story into a reason for someone else’s recovery.