“I’m Vivian. I’m 18 years old.
I’m very stubborn, but in a good way, not a bad way. I feel like I’m really nice. I feel like I’m too nice a lot of the time. I love to read. I love dancing, but not like the actual choreographer for kind of dance, like just dancing. I was like hanging out with friends. I do like public speaking and hiking. I love hiking.
My mom’s sick. And … that’s just kind of hard on us. It’s all in God’s plan. So…. Everybody does as much as I can, I feel. It’s all kind of a team effort with me and my mom and my brother. It’s hard on all of us, but We kind of have our own little things that we all have to do.
My mom found you guys on Facebook, because I did homeschool, like, online, and I was, like, always home, and she didn’t want me to be home, so she was trying to find me everything in the world that I could do, and this was, like, the only thing I, like, eventually said yes to.
After I joined Girls Leadership Council, and then I saw like how good this place is, then I started doing better because of Miss Jessie and like teaching us that people make mistakes. And so I started doing better and I got my school really good together.
When it was my 1st year back in in person school, my anxiety was really, really bad all the time because I wasn’t used to being around people all the time. And so it was a lot for me to handle. And I’m like, I was really, really hard on myself with school and my grades. So then my anxiety just like completely skyrocketed. And, like, I couldn’t even go sit in, like, the cafeteria, I would be with my teachers. And then Miss Kendall started coming and seeing me. She helped me find coping mechanisms, like actually good ones that are just, like, breathe. Because everybody tells you to just breathe, but she did like the senses one. And then so I was going from like having panic attacks like every other day. So now I only get them like a couple of times a year. So she helped me with all my breathing stuff and then sour candy when I’m having panic attack. So, that one helped a lot too. And then just to like not be as hard on myself with my school and stuff and just everything.
I had gotten into trouble- right before I joined Girls Leadership Council. I hadn’t told anybody. The entire time through when I was in Girls’ Leadership, I didn’t tell anybody. And, then I told Miss Vicky, and then she was like the 1st person besides my mom and my grandma that knew. And then, because I thought it was like this huge thing and I was really embarrassed. And then I didn’t want people to like look bad at me. And then now I’ve told a lot of people here. It kind of just makes me feel better about myself because nobody’s like judgmental here. So I don’t feel judged. which is nice. And then it was just kind of nice also, because when I was going through my legal stuff, I was allowed to leave my house. So it’s kind of just nice to have, like, one somewhere to go on the weekend and then to, like, somewhere healthy to go. And so that helps me a lot. In a lot of ways, because it got me out of the house, which like obviously felt good. But then it also helped me learn. I learned a lot about a lot of different things. It’s helping me figure out all the little things with college. that I just didn’t know about. And like, I need help with scholarships too.
I’m really excited about college. I never thought I’d get into college. I never thought I’d be smart enough to go to college. But now. Now I’m going to college. I’m gonna be a lawyer. I mean, attorney, my own specialize in juveniles. And like women. Because, everybody’s good, but then people do bad things. They make mistakes. I don’t think it should define the rest of their lives. And it’s always deeper than just what they did. There’s always more to it. It’s never just like, oh, you did this. That’s who you are. not how that works. Like, especially with kids.
5 years ago? I didn’t really think much about myself. I just didn’t really care. But now, I’m going to college. I got a plan. Which is exciting. I feel better. I just kind of, if, I don’t know, I think everything’s in God’s plan, so you kind of just have to get with the flow.
I want to start my own law firm eventually. That’d be cool. Hopefully I have a family. I’ll be really cool.”
—Vivian
