Stereotypes have no meaning when you’re breaking them left and right

Being a black woman, I have overcome obstacles I never thought I could. My senior year of high school I was told I would only last a year at Syracuse University because I wouldn’t have the funds. Once getting to college, I dealt with racism as well as negative assumptions on a daily.

These were things I faced everyday, sometimes even by people I called my friends.

While in school I worked two jobs while taking at least 16 credits every semester while still being heavily involved in organizations on campus. I also had to deal with someone close to me passing away. It was such a tough year that I only really wanted to go home and lay in my sorrows, but I knew that wouldn’t help me at all. Now after four years of trials and tribulations, on May 15, 2016, I became a graduate from Syracuse University.

To this day women still have to prove themselves and their work ethics, especially Black women. Statistics show that “48 percent of non-Hispanic black women get pregnant before the age of 20. Of this group 97 percent are unmarried and have little recognizable means of financial or emotional support. Less than 23 percent of fathers remain in the lives of the child or offer any financial assistance. Lastly, most sadly more than a quarter of teen mothers will be pregnant again less than two years after giving birth the first time.”

Black women have always been told that we wouldn’t be anything. That was until we started to become something – educated.

According to The National Center for Education Statistics, black women have recently emerged as the most educated population of people by race and gender in America. Definitely a turn table from being known as the high school, pregnant dropout.

There were numerous obstacles I faced while being in college that could have led me to drop out and come back home, but I remembered the type of warrior I was.

Today I stand before you as Taylor Moné Middleton, who at 11 years old lost her mother due to cirrhosis and who’s father hasn’t been around since birth. Who decided that education was important and got into her number one school. Who got into her school and sustained the money to stay all four years and is now a 2016 Syracuse University graduate.

More than a statistic

It’s a lot better to achieve greatness when you have other black women surrounding you doing the same thing! My friends and I have been through so much together these last four years but that’s another story for another day. Just know I love them with all my heart.

I want to encourage young women to keep their head up and work hard. I might be from southeast Washington DC and say the word “moe” and like mumbo sauce on my fried chicken, but I am also a 2016 graduate from Syracuse University where I took my education just as serious as I do my chicken.