No one expects a crack addict to become a school teacher. Just like they do not expect a sixteen-year-old to be graduating high school. The same look that Brenda Combs gets when she tells people of her past is presumably similar to the look I receive from my peers when I tell them how old I am. Mrs. Combs went through a lot in her life time but she did not let that stop her. She overcame her obstacles and made achievements that no one thought she could. Although, I did not go through nearly as much as Mrs. Combs, I can relate to her story. I have had people doubt my abilities my whole life; which only pushed me to be better. I proved I was on the road to success during high school. I graduated a year early despite my colleagues and administrators…show more content… I was always the person who looked for any reason possible to skip school. Even though I often missed a lot of school time; I worked ten times harder than everyone else when I did go and rarely ever missed an assignment. I spent a lot of time teaching myself the material. In the article it says, “for Combs, this time, there was no turning back.” I can relate to this because many times during high school I changed my mind about graduating but when I hit my junior year I knew it was official. As many times as I wanted to give up I couldn’t because I felt as though I had something to prove. I needed to show everyone that doubted me that I could do it, there was no giving up.
The biggest part of my journey was staying positive because people love to put down what they don’t understand. Without a positive mindset, you are setting yourself up to be unsuccessful. When things got difficult, I did my best to look at the better side of my situation. Brenda Combs “surrounded herself with supportive mentors.” People who she knew could help if times got tough. Although I didn’t have many people in my corner, my mother and my grandmother were my two biggest supporter. With their guidance and support I was able to reach my goal of graduating
