I’ve had quite the journey after graduating 11 (almost 12 years ago - in June). There have been good years and not so good years, but I have persevered. I’ll start with my not so good year because it was through that time of my life that I found my passion. In March of 2018, I found myself pregnant and freaking out. I was in my junior year of my 4 year degree and I didn’t know where life would take me. I was trying to balance work, school, an upcoming internship, service learning, home life, and now prenatal care and doctors appointments. I decided to take things a day at a time and see where life would take me - and that’s exactly what I did. On September 21, 2018, I left work and was getting ready to drive home when I felt a pain in my abdomen. I called my boyfriend to come get me from Target so we could go to the hospital. We get there only to find out that our daughter had no heartbeat. I felt like the air had been sucked out of me - I thought there had to be some mistake because I just had a checkup the day before. So that day (9/21/18), at 9:22 pm, I delivered our stillborn baby girl. I emailed my professors the next day to let them know I needed some time to cope with my loss and that I would try to finish my homework when I could. It took me a couple of weeks until I was ready to go back to school and work (emotional I was still a mess) as even the smallest thing would trigger a meltdown. Some of my classmates did not know I had lost my baby girl and they asked me how it was to be a mom (and you guessed it- I lost it but had to compose myself as I had a class project presentation). Fast forward a couple of weeks, I woke up with the passion and desire to be a teacher. I decided right then and there that I would not give up on school as I had no choice but to keep going so I could make this dream a reality. In December of 2019, I graduated with a 2.893. In June of 2020, I started my Master’s in Education (1 year program). I am currently almost halfway through my program and am enjoying every moment of it with my students. It has been quite a journey for me. I still miss my daughter like crazy, but I am grateful that I had the opportunity to be her mom.