Rachel’s Essay

     It was on my first week of senior year. Instead of gossiping with my recently graduated boyfriend, I was banging on the front door of his apartment with all my belongings in a brown cardboard box in one hand and clutching my younger autistic sister’s hand in the other. My grandmother had kicked my family out. She had called the police on us and forced us to pack our stuff in our little Mercedes Benz in the middle of the rain. No one in my family had a college degree; it’s not that we didn’t think it was important, but we could hardly afford to pay our rent. Because of her personal experiences being an abused married woman and with very little college education, my mother knew the despair of sinking so deep into debt that it felt impossible to make it out on her own. So, she sent us off to my boyfriend’s house so we could continue going to school. Living arrangements were difficult as 8 people were living in a tiny apartment in an impoverished neighborhood. Given that my sister had autism, she desperately needed all my attention. She missed our mother dearly, as we knew she was living at a friend’s house in Arkansas while also mourning the death of her grandfather (who ironically enough, died the day we became homeless). It was so stressful living with practical strangers, raising my younger sister, and going to school like nothing was happening. My attendance was all over the place and my will to continue school died when my great-grandfather did.

     Soon my sister was able to find a home with my father. Living with my boyfriend became easier and I started doing more work trying to build a better Memphis in education and fight against homelessness. With those incentives, I was able to help around the house with groceries. Regardless of the excuse of grief and depression, I pushed through and held myself accountable in school. I have recently ended the first semester of my senior year with all A’s on my transcript, been declared valedictorian, and earned multiple college acceptances. I am still struggling but I hope to make a better Memphis in my educational journey.

     In the coming years, I see myself continuing to develop my skills and expertise to enrich a better community in my hometown of Memphis in education and arts. My first step in the process is earning a bachelor’s degree with a major in theater. Theater opens us to different perspectives that we never stop to ponder or speculate. The art’s ability to increase empathy and connection to the community nurtures my love for youth advocacy. By leveraging my years of experience and training in early childcare through Goddard’s Preschools I believe I’m uniquely positioned to excel in becoming a teacher assistant in drama. I’m motivated by connecting my initiatives to the larger goals of influencing creativity in Memphis, and I’m excited by the prospect of getting more experience in that.