Madeline [email protected]

My Story
I am Madeline Kate Hubbard, born on June 2nd, 2006. I am a senior student at a private Christian school in Alabama. My grandparents were granted custody of me in October 2019. My mother and father were meth users and have since cleaned up their lives, but are divorced. Although they see me daily, we all felt it was best to stay with my grandparents because my grandparents work at the school which I attend. My brother, who is aged 21 years, was also raised by my grandparents.
I have managed to break the record of the tallest person in our family with a height of 5foot 9 inches. I love playing volleyball and I have been selected to represent our volleyball team in our conference for two years. I am skilful in the game, which makes me an asset to the team, as my height acts as an advantage. I also enjoy the game of softball, my current position is pitcher.
Nevertheless, I am in that stage of life where I feel somewhat confused, and I do not know exactly what I want to do in life. I am very interested in family counseling in a rural setting. The counseling services helped me in opening up my mind to the opportunities that lay ahead if I could stay on course and I would like to do that for other students who have had this type of issue in their life.
My brother and I had a hard time during our early years prior to teenage age. We found ourselves in a dysfunctional family full of chaos as our mother and father were always high and also struggled to make ends meet. Blessed enough, there was family that was ready to help us carry this burden; hence they came through, helped us, and supported my parents to the level they are presently. The generosity of that family saved our lives. Our schooling has always been indirectly affected by our family’s situation. The psychological distress caused by our separation from our parents has affected our academic performance, causing testing anxiety.
However, I am happy to be the first person from my immediate family to go to college, but I need a pathway since no one in my family has managed that foot; hence no one can advise me career wise. It is challenging to make the scores I need to get me academic scholarships. Joining college has always been my dream; therefore, I feel excited and thankful to God for the chance. I believe that this is my turning point, and my education can be helpful not only to my family but to the entire society. I also hope a college will offer me an opportunity to build my talent in volleyball. I hope to compete one time at the international level. Since we have been raised in a dysfunctional family, I intend to try to bring everything together once I have the capacity to do so. I believe that nothing is impossible, and hope I can manage to bring my family closer, even if not together. I hope by God’s grace that all my dreams will come true one day.