“I’d been wanting to come to Jackson State since 2015. My father figure was a J5 drum major back in his day. The only thing he ever talked about was Jackson State. And we hear so much about it in the Virgin Islands. I researched the school and fell in love with the band and everything else. I never wanted to go to anywhere else.

I wanted to come here right after high school. But when you’re young, you think you know everything, and you don’t want to listen to your parents. That was my situation. After high school, I went to a community college and got involved with people who I thought were my friends. And things happened that really conflicted me. I got betrayed, and it hurt a lot. I fell into a very dark place. I didn’t know myself. My mother and I didn’t talk for almost a year because of my decisions. Everything just started to crumble right before me, but I learned a very valuable lesson. It turns out that if God doesn’t want certain people in your life, He will remove them. I started to pull myself together and remember what I actually wanted to do. I moved back home and started to focus on what I needed to do to get where I wanted to be. And I had a lot of support.

So don’t give up on your dreams. That’s where you’d go wrong. If you change your dreams, that’s fine. But don’t ever give up on them. Don’t feel like just because you hit rock bottom, that’s it. My grandmother would always tell me that you have to pray and maintain. When you pray and maintain, so many opportunities can come to you in so many different ways. Once you have faith, anything is possible.”

– Diata, sophomore entrepreneurship major Saint Croix, Virgin Islands

“My mother was an alcoholic and a drug addict. She had her first child when she was 14. And she didn’t know she was pregnant with me while she was on drugs. My auntie adopted my eight siblings and me because she didn’t want us to be in the system. She didn’t want us to be separated. She, too, was a drug addict. But she got her life together. And she has a daughter. So it was really 10 of us who grew up in that house.

I guess the most difficult thing was being the youngest because I was trying to find someone to look up to. I don’t know my father, so that caused me to feel some kind of way towards men. And not having my mother made me feel some kind of way towards women as well. I didn’t really have a role model. There was just a lot of chaos going on. And I didn’t know which route to take. So I was angry all of the time. But my auntie is so sweet, and she spoiled me. She softened me a little bit.

My mom is doing well now. She’s been clean for maybe a year. We actually just started building a relationship. I’ve known her my whole life and she’s always been around, but we didn’t have that mother-daughter relationship. Now we’re working towards it and I’m excited.

But my mom showed me what I didn’t want to be: addicted to drugs and alcohol. I’d always longed for a mother figure. Not just the title but an actual relationship. So she taught me who I didn’t want to be when I have kids. She showed me that when I get older and out into the world, I don’t want to be like that.

So that’s what keeps me going every day. I don’t want to be a product of my circumstances. So I’m just going to make a difference.”

– Alexis, sophomore criminal justice major with a minor in political science from Cleveland, Ohio

“I started homeschool in the 4th grade.

Being homeschooled isn’t as glamorous as some people think. I had a ton of books. I usually woke up at the same time as students in public schools. My grandmother, a former math teacher at Clinton High School, was my teacher.

The reason for me being placed in homeschool was because I was getting bullied in public school. Some of the students did not like that I could out-work them and sometimes they would take my homework and throw it away or just mess it up so that I couldn’t turn it in. So, from 4th grade through high school I was homeschooled. I thought about going to public school but I didn’t think I would integrate well – having been homeschooled for so long.

The transition from homeschool to Jackson State was a little bumpy at first, because I wasn’t used to a classroom setting. So I would just sit in the back, take my notes and then leave class. But my instructors have helped me come out of my shell. They would come up to me and ask if I needed help with anything. And they would do whatever they could to help me feel more comfortable in the classroom. To me, the best thing about JSU are the instructors.”

– Austin, sophomore biology/pre-veterinarian major from Jackson, Miss.

“One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with was the suicide of a friend. It was hard to cope and figure out how to convey the emotions I was feeling and move on from it. I like to put my life in words and music, and I felt like a lot of the times, I was repeating the same process. I kept bringing her up in songs. I felt like I wasn’t really moving on, and that wasn’t helping me move on from it. That was really difficult because it just made feel like I could’ve helped, or I could’ve been there. It also made me feel like if other people I knew were going through the same thing, I wouldn’t be able to help them. It was a lot of internal struggles with that and thinking that it was my fault that it happened. It was a lot to deal with.

It’s kind of better now. I guess a big thing was time, and the music and conversations I’ve had with people. I got to perform a song with a verse that mentions her and the situation. I think that was like a release for me – to have that story be put out to the world and to have that off my shoulders a little bit for other people to hear how I felt about it. I still think about her a lot, but it’s not at the forefront of my brain anymore.

I’ve moved past the grief, and now I want to help other people deal with their problems a little better. Whether it be a friend or a person that I’m not close to, I just want to let them know that I’m a person to talk to and somebody with empathy. I think empathy is a big thing for people to have, not judging, just listening. I know from experience that it’s nice to have someone in your corner and somebody to talk to. So I feel that it’s really important to talk about it, help people cope, help yourself cope, and help yourself move on from those things and get better.”

– Justin, sophomore computer science major from Biloxi, Miss.

“I started drawing when I was in the first grade. And my family has pushed me to keep at it. I want to incorporate graphic design into animation, to make cartoons for kids.

The first cartoon character I would create would be based on my son. Actually, even before he came into the picture, I wanted to create cartoons with positive messages, and I wanted to incorporate black people and various other cultures. Now that I have my son, who’s mixed, I have to make sure that I incorporate Hispanic people and culture into my cartoons.

My son’s name came from God. I remember when I was going through what I was going through – my situation was very unfortunate. I stepped outside of God’s will, but God blessed and turned my situation around. And I never thought I’d be back in school. I sat out because of my son. I was like, ‘God I can’t go.’ But things just started happening at the last minute. And now, my son is my inspiration for me being here. His name is Chance because God gave me another chance to redeem myself and start fresh.”

– Terriannah, sophomore graphic design major from Jackson, Miss.