She’s tall, African American, she has dark hair and brown skin. This is all the information I’ve had a majority of my life to go off of about my mom. In middle school I learned her name. I have never met my mother or father. Since I was three days old I have been in the care of what I thought was my adoptive parent, Ms. Paulette Randall. I was abandoned on the steps of Paulette Randall and in her care up until the age of 16. Paulette raised me as her own daughter. I was left without a birth certificate or Social Security card. I was only able to start school because of the faulty public school system not checking for proper documents and paperwork. I went on to go to KIPP Baltimore Charter school and my hard work there allowed me to be eligible and win a full scholarship to Saint Paul’s School for Girls (SPSG) through the Samuel Ready Scholarship program. While living with Ms. Randall, things started to get pretty bad for us. We first couldn’t afford our electricity bill, so for a long time we went without power. I would rush home after school so I could finish my homework before the sun went down. We also didn’t have hot water or heat most times. I never said anything at school because I was taught to have pride in what I did have not worry about what I did not. I just made it work without telling anyone.
Before my junior year I was picked to go on an all expense leadership and learning experience to Israel with the Elijah Cummings Youth program of Israel. I kept asking Ms. Randall to take me and then she finally told me I wasn’t actually adopted or documented with the state as being in foster care. No one wants to hear they are adopted, but you especially do not want to hear you are not adopted. I never knew and the information was a lot to internalize and I got really worried about how I would get everything ready for my trip! I still didn’t have any identification to get a passport so I talked to a faculty member at SPSG and she said she would help me get my birth certificate and any other documents I needed. I was able to get all of the information I needed in time and go to Israel! An experience I am still thankful for everyday!
After I came back from Israel I learned that Ms. Randall had been hospitalized and had fallen very ill. She had a history of seizures and high blood pressure so her health wasn’t perfect. The faculty member who helped me was Titia Dunn.
We grew close very quickly and talked all the time. I would go stay with her on some weekends and she became a second family to me. Ms. Randall got so sick and things got so bad that we lost our house again! I didn’t know where I was going to stay for senior year of high school and then after, so I talked to Mrs. Dunn and she offered her home to me. I moved in with her and finished my senior year. I was able to win many awards at SPSG and because of all my contributions and academics I was offered a full scholarship to The University of Maryland College Park (UMD). UMD has generously helped me with paying for all of my expenses. At the University of Maryland I am apart of the Terps for Change community service organization and the University Student Judiciary. I have served as senator of my dorm hall, worked on the Resident Life Advisory Team, and become a volunteer for So Others Might Eat (SOME) homeless soup kitchen.
I have done three productions at UMD as well, Twilight, Los Angeles: 1992, The Me Nobody knows and an original student written production called Tone of Silence. I just finished my third semester and can’t wait to jump in next semester to get involved. I am a first generation college student, Mrs. Dunn and UMD have helped make the transition to college for me very easy. Mrs. Dunn did helped me get into foster care so I could get health insurance. I had never been to the dentist and was behind on a lot of shots, but Mrs. Dunn helped me to take care of everything. Ms. Randall and I still keep in touch but she is in a nursing home getting the medical attention she needs. My life mad a complete 160 and everyday I feel blessed and thankful to be where I am.
I am a double major of Theater and Hearing and Speech at UMD and I can’t wait to graduate and go to graduate school and accomplish all the goals I have set for myself. I do still think about that I have never met my biological parents and even all the adversity I’ve had to deal with, but I know everything has made me the person I am today and I’m extremely proud of myself and what my future holds.
