The child of two teenagers, language instructor Mrs. White’s parents were 15 and 16 years old when they had her. They were both heavily involved in drugs and she spent most of her turbulent childhood with relatives. Her time was spent mostly in government housing in inner city Charlotte: A place that built character, but tore apart lives.

During this time she seldom stayed in one place for too long, moving schools often, she went to five different elementary schools and three different middle schools. As a person of mixed race, (Cuban, white and Native American) , she rarely felt she belonged, and when she did feel she belonged, others felt to the contrary. She moved in semi-permanently with her grandmother in the sixth grade, who turned out to be an extremely positive influence on her life. She saw a promise in her that few others had seen in her up until that point.

When her grandmother died of Leukemia in the ninth grade, she felt as if she had nobody to make proud anymore and decided to get involved in gangs where kids appreciated her talents. During this time she stayed with other relatives, including her dad and his new wife. She felt alienated from her father’s new life and he and his wife neglected to provide essential things she as a young girl required. She began stealing originally just to get the things she needed, but quickly formed a habit of it.

While in eighth grade she decided to visit her mother on Christmas Eve and was confronted with the stark reality of what drugs can do to a person. She hadn’t seen her mother in quite awhile and had no idea where she was most of the time. Her mother was living in a roach infested apartment and could barely take care of herself let alone her daughter, Mrs. White. She left and cut off contact with her after that visit. Mrs. White later got caught up in grand theft auto and drugs. She, along with a group of other teens, would break into and steal cars which would then be sold to a shop who gave them money. She got arrested in the beginning of the tenth grade along with the other teenagers that were involved.

The prospect of going to jail was a huge eye-opener for her and the experience triggered the realization that she didn’t want to go down that path like her mother. In court, school teachers and mentors spoke of her good nature and promise and she was not sent to a juvenile detention center. Instead, she was given community service.

Shortly after this sentence, she was accepted to Milton Hershey school, a school for orphans and struggling kids living in poverty, which her grandmother had applied to prior to her passing. When provided with the opportunities to succeed she took full advantage of them. She graduated third in her class at Milton Hershey, and got a full academic scholarship to the University of North Carolina. There she got a bachelor’s and master’s degree in School Administration.

Mrs. White has been teaching for 17 years and has 3 children. She enjoys her roles as both a teacher and mother, and making sure both her students and children are given the same opportunities she was given growing up. Mrs. White knows 5 languages in total, including Swahili which she learned during her stay in Nairobi, Kenya the summer after she graduated from college. She is currently writing a book entitled “A Collection of Love and Pain”, which is scheduled to come out this summer followed by a book of poetry due to come out sometime in the near future.

“You can’t pick your parents but you can pick the parent you will be.” – Mrs. White