Personal growth through challenges and service leadership

Distinguished historian, musician, and civil rights activist Bernice Johnson Reagon stated, "Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are." Challenges often present forks in the road that allow people to discover their true goals and priorities. Challenges, while always difficult, always offer learning opportunities. I have been nearly paralyzed by my life's challenges. During my freshman and sophomore years in high school my grades slipped well past my level of ability because of the emotional challenges of transferring schools and moving between different locales. However, through the external discipline of a year at a military academy and the internal discipline of a warrior at heart, I eventually triumphed over obstacles.

Perhaps even more challenging than the physical and psychological trials of military school was the time I spent working with impoverished students in the Dominican Republic. Growing up with nothing, these kids appreciated everything. They take nothing for granted, especially school. While in America kids are cutting classes and slacking off, children in the Dominican Republic soaked up every ounce of knowledge they could. They rose to the challenges posed to them by poverty and oppression. What I witnessed in a developing nation was the immense strength of the human spirit and the ability of all people to overcome adversity.