06/10/2026
What an incredible experience. Thank you Soroptimists, for helping me live my dreams. ♡
Here is my speech:
My mentor recently reminded me of the movie Forrest Gump. There's the famous line, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."
I recently rewatched the movie for the first time since I was probably in sixth grade. What struck me wasn't all the remarkable experiences Forrest had. It was what he chose to do with them afterward. The ways he chose to make something meaningful from them, and for the people who were part of them.
One of the most interesting things I have learned through life and through people is that going through really hard things can make you a really hard person.
It can make you callous. Protective. Guarded. Cold.
And yet, I stand here today as a product of grace.
Not because my life has been free from hardship, but because God has a remarkable way of redeeming things. Through people who invested in me, encouraged me, challenged me, and believed in me, He has continually taken difficult experiences and used them for good.
There was a time in my life when I was a single mother trying to rebuild after difficult circumstances, uncertain what the future would hold and unsure of what the next step was supposed to be. Pursuing a college degree was never part of the original plan for my life, and certainly not at this stage. Yet through God's faithfulness and the support of people who continually believed in me, I found myself taking one step, then another, toward opportunities I never imagined possible.
As I thought about Forrest Gump, I realized something. While my future probably doesn't involve a shrimp boat, I do find myself continually returning to the people and places that have shaped my own story.
I return to the Orange County Rescue Mission, where my kids and I lived, a community that means a great deal to me. I serve at events, participate in their running events, and spend time with people whose stories often remind me of my own.
I go back to people who struggle with health goals and coach them.
I mentor students, some who don't have mothers actively involved in their lives like I didn't. Some are navigating the effects of addiction in their families and carrying wounds that were never theirs to create. I have sat with single mothers facing unexpected forks in the road and helped them find the courage to take the next step forward.
I also love walking alongside people as they learn to enter and navigate the workforce. Whether it's a young person just beginning to discover their strengths or an adult overcoming homelessness and rebuilding their life, there is something incredibly rewarding about helping people recognize their gifts, develop practical skills, and gain the confidence to use those gifts in meaningful ways. I love helping people see that they have value to offer and that their contributions can make their workplaces, organizations, and communities better because they are part of them.
What has been most humbling is realizing that every class I take, every lesson I learn, and every experience I have lived through seems to become another tool that allows me to serve someone else.
My faith has been the anchor through all of it. One of the verses I return to often is Psalm 51:8: "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones You have broken may rejoice."
I love that verse because it reminds me that joy can come from broken places. That difficult experiences do not have to be wasted. That even the things that hurt us can become the very things that equip us to help others.
That is what I hope to do with my degree in psychology. I hope to continue serving people who are facing trauma, addiction, homelessness, poverty, and difficult life circumstances. I hope to help people recognize their value, understand their strengths, and discover that their story is not over.
The financial support from Soroptimist will help me continue my education and move closer to that goal. But what has moved me most is knowing that people I have never met looked at my story and decided it was worth giving a chance. As someone who never expected to be pursuing a college degree, let alone standing here sharing this journey, that is an incredible encouragement.
It reminds me that none of us arrive where we are alone. We get here because people invest, encourage, mentor, teach, and believe in us along the way. It is both humbling and inspiring to know that organizations like Soroptimist see potential in women who are still writing the next chapters of their stories and choose to come alongside them.
Mr. Rogers once said, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being."
As I look around my own life, I can see so many of those people. Teachers, mentors, friends, employers, professors, and organizations like Soroptimist who chose to invest in me before I fully understood what was possible myself.
So thank you to the Soroptimists of Chino, the regional organization, and Soroptimist International. Thank you for being among those people in my story, and for investing not only in my education, but in the lives of the people I hope to serve because of it. See less
