I come from a town that is toxic and has a never-ending cycle of poverty. If the town were not enough, I also come from a single-parent household. So what does this mean? I have two strikes already working against me. Also, I am Afro-Peruvian and a woman. Oh, but let me not forget I am a bisexual woman. So, now that is five strikes.

In baseball, it is three strikes and you are out. Well, I have a few extra strikes to give away if no one has any. Now, what does this mean for me? Well, I no longer want to be the woman that got sucked into the negative, stereotypical, pessimistic story of a young woman from a single parent household that maybe or maybe not got knocked up during high school or sometime after. Or ended up on a front page because she got caught in the line of crossfire. We know the story, wrong place, wrong time scenario. Or, my favorite, the young woman who is receiving benefits from the state and has a minimum wage job.

We have all heard this story, and each time the ending of the story is different. Here is mine. I have six siblings. Four are from my father and two from my mother. However, I grew up with my mother, my sister, and my brother. My mother is a manicurist and has recently been going to back to school. If there is anything that I learned from her it was to keep striving for better and more.

My mother migrated to the United States with my grandparents at 12. They came chasing the American dream. She did not know English but had to learn as quick as she could to translate for my grandparents. At 19, she found out she was pregnant with me and she could not go to college at the time because she did not have her documents. My father walked out as soon as he found out my mother was pregnant. My grandparents were not pleased by the news at first but were supportive. Making little money at a department store, she picked up a trade.

Growing up she always used to tell me, "I am a statistic. I won't let you be one." In the beginning, I never knew what she meant by it. But as I got older that statement became more and more real.

With the little money that she generated she managed to take me out of the Paterson public school system and enrolled me into an all-girls high school. As soon as I stepped foot on the campus I felt like an outsider. Not because I could not make friends, but rather because I knew the girls there could afford to go. I was on a scholarship, received reduced lunch, and basically, I was lucky. But at the moment I did not feel it. I felt like a charity case.

All I wanted were my friends. The friends I went to middle school with, the friends that were going to public school. I did not care for my education. I did not care about going to college. All I knew was, the school was too expensive for my mother to afford. I felt that my mother could use the money for rent or for food. Something that was not my school.

Right when I thought I wanted to go to the same schools as my friends, they motivated me to make the best of it. So, I made friends, got into playing a sport, and took an interest in my classes. If I was going to stay there I was going to keep myself busy. This meant school, job, sports, and dance.

By my senior year, when everyone was applying to colleges, I wanted to enlist in the Marines. I felt that college was out of my reach, financially, and I partially believed that college was not for me. My mother convinced me to apply to college. I was receiving waivers, and I thought, why not? I had nothing to lose. Then came the calls to go to the interviews and the offers of scholarships and visiting campuses. I never thought I could sit in a college classroom.

Once again, I was going to have an opportunity to a new environment. My world was changing and I did not even notice it. When I got accepted to Saint Peter's my luck was only starting.

Looking back, I am glad my mother made the sacrifices that she made. I only speak to three of the friends I had from middle school now, and we always get together and talk about what happened to our group. We went from a group of nine or eight to just us four. We always manage to spend time with one another.

It's funny how my mother raised my siblings and I and managed to put me through Catholic school and through college. Now I am looking for law schools, and it all happened because of the motivation I received at home. Now I refuse to be complacent with my surroundings and continue to want more for myself. I am not saying change happens overnight. It happens gradually. It simply takes time.

Oh, and those strikes I was talking about earlier? It's fine. It's only the third inning I am on home plate, trying to hit a home run.