This week’s campus celebrity is me. I may not be a campus celebrity, per say, but I have a story to tell. When I took the internship at Her Campus, I valued what the project stood for, as I still do. I took the company’s principle as women taking power of their own situations and helping other women along the way.
I’m a 23-year old single mother and a woman of color. There are a lot of odds against me. But I’ve learned to overcome obstacles and make a way out of no way. I came to Columbia after three years of attending Southern Illinois University. I partied, I lived life and had just a little too much fun and what should have been my senior year, I enrolled at Columbia as a sophomore. Talk about feeling stupid. But finding out I was pregnant just as I started my first semester here, I knew I had to make some changes. Something happened to me, and that little girl turned into this woman.
I attended classes my entire pregnancy (fall 2008 and spring 2009). Big belly and all, I never missed a day. Two weeks after I gave birth, I took my finals and ended the semester with a B average. That wasn’t good enough. After taking a semester off, I came back and enrolled in the journalism program. I made the Dean’s List. I’ve been awarded scholarships and even landed an internship at 103-5 KISS FM. I’ve had rumors spread about me, been in a verbally abusive relationship (all abuse isn’t physical) and through it all, I’ve learned and grown. I’ve busted my butt to prove a point to everyone that I am that woman who can hold her own and do anything she sets her mind to.
As I raise my daughter, I look at her and I see so much potential. It gives me the strength to work, go to school and do everything in my power to give her what she deserves. I can wish about being married and having a stable career all day long, but it means nothing if I don’t work on achieving those goals.
Up until last month, I worked 40+ hours a week while only getting paid for 20 and attending class full-time while raising my daughter solely by myself. I’m tired, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can rest after she’s taken care of.
I can’t believe I’ve finally made it to graduation. I can honestly say I never thought it would happen. If I hadn’t had my child, I don’t think it would have. I want to enroll in graduate school for education, which has always been my first love; I’m going to make that happen, too, one day.
I’ve realized I’m two weeks from graduation. I’m a paid intern at a magazine catered toward in-house legal professionals. It only pays minimum wage and it’s over in eight weeks, but many soon-to-be graduates don’t have the opportunity to land a position during this time in their lives. So it’s in my best advantage to seize the opportunity, and it’s in my hands to turn this into what I want.
I guess my point is this: It never pays to give up. Yes, life is hard, but it’s also what you make it. When life hands you lemons, suck out all the vitamin C and yell, “Eat that, life!”