My mom became a single mother in my early teenage years. It was a hard transition for her, myself, and my older sister. My father left the picture because he had a different version of how life should be lived and my mother did not want my sister or I to watch or eventually fall into his lifestyle. She realized that she had to step out of her comfort zone and do what was best for her kids. The transition was not easy, but my mom is the strongest person that I know and she worked hard to provide for my sister and I. She loved us unconditionally through it all. In the beginning, there were a lot of tears. I would say I handled the separation moderately well, as I saw my father's tendencies affect my family long before something was done about it. I was there for my mom when she was lonely, sad, angry, hurting, and supported her as she got better. There were many nights where I would be up doing homework and hear her crying from the other room. I would go and lay with her until she fell asleep. She struggled to keep herself fed and well-rested in those times. I would cook or suggest going to her favorite places. How I viewed it was, my mom was, is, and always will be my best friend. She loved and supported me through everything and it was now my time to do the same for her. It was hard to see her in a place where she felt lost and conflicted. I saw her work to provide, keep a clean home, and raise her two daughters without the support of the man who promised to go through everything with her. She got better with time and the new normal became just the three of us. Holidays and big events got easier but always had a weird feeling. My mom inspires me in numerous ways everyday. The first being that I got to see her raw emotions going through the divorce. I have always struggled with expressing negative emotions and she tries to make me feel comfortable enough to show them. I will forever admire her ability to feel things. Feeling her emotions is what makes her so strong. I admire her work ethic. She gets up and goes to work everyday, no matter what she has going on in her personal life. I admire her big heart. My mother has the biggest heart of anyone I know and tries to help others whenever she can. All I know, is that my mom is my best friend, biggest supporter, and my first phone call when I have good or bad news to share. She is beautiful and the strongest person I know.

Leadership is something that is very important to me, I respect good leaders and aim to be a good leader when given the opportunity. I try not to be demanding and fully respect taking my fair share of work. In group project for class, I try to take an organizational leader role. I do this by just trying to keep track of the progress made by other group members and myself. My role at the Center for Entrepreneurship has also helped me with my leadership skills. After about 4 months into my position, my team and I lost our management to an better opportunity for them in their career. The office that was in charge of my office met with me and asked me to pick up some of the roles of my management. It helped me learn how to organize a team and assign roles to others and myself. Another experience at Millikin that has helped to become a better leader is working as an EDGE mentor. An EDGE mentor at Millikin is a leader that is assigned 5-8 first-year students and guides them through their first year of college. This experience helped me build relationships, give advice, and gain experience in reporting progress and issues to my boss if a situation was something that I personally couldn't handle with one of my students. With both of these experiences, I also have two jobs that are not related to Millikin. I pay for my own education and expenses, for the reason, I have to have jobs outside of school. I still study full-time, maintain a 3.78 GPA, and my position on Millikin's dean's list. Managing these jobs and responsibilities is not the easiest thing I have done, but it has taught me a lot about the real world and myself.

My father was not always a victim of addiction. It wasn't until I entered high school that I saw him fall into the pit that pills and alcohol can be. I had to watch the man that helped raise me go from a happy and loving father to a tired and zombified version of himself. I would agree that our response to not only life's challenges but everything in life helps to shape us. My father dealt with some tough situations throughout my high school career. He faced health issues, job issues, and the loss of his grandmother. At first, we all felt bad for him; but as time went on and his addiction got worse, we saw that he did not want to return to the man we all knew. Despite the person he had become, we loved him anyway. He eventually pushed all of us away until my mother couldn't bare to let his daughters see him in his condition anymore and they got a divorce. I love my father, but have learned to deal with struggles and challenges differently now. I prefer to take a step back, assess the situation, and then take the best steps to move forward, even if they are not the easiest steps to take.