Michelle Smith:  

I would say that I have accomplished a lot. I look forward to what the future holds because if it follows with what I have already gone through we are in for a wild ride! What I have noticed is even though I might be crushed by life situations it always opens a door to something bigger and better. I remember my mother taking me to Ponderosa and Gardendale Baptist Church Preschool programs at an early age. In the fall 1980 I began kindergarten at Calk Elementary School. Over the Christmas holidays of 1980-1981 my family moved and I transferred to Sanders Elementary where I attended until Spring 1987. It was during this time that I began making friendships with individuals that still carry on to this day. While at Sanders I was involved with Girl Scouts; went from brownie to actual girl scout and remember selling cookies at .75 a box. I was in various school plays and once got to play one of four turkeys to represent the month of November. I played Little Miss Kickball in the fourth grade for a year. In fifth grade I got involved in the orchestra where I played the viola for the next three years; giving me my ear for music. In the sixth grade I was part of the safety patrol where I carried a stop flag on a piece of PVC pipe and helped kids cross at safety crossings before and after school; rain or shine or cold weather (sounds like a postal worker). In 1987 I began attending Tom Browne Junior High School. I continued playing the viola and played in a few school concerts. One of my biggest achievements was going into speech where I won a few awards. I was allowed to give a speech that beat out Baker Junior High, which was big at the time since Baker always seemed to win the speech competitions, and one for the local rotary club. It was while I was at Browne Junior High that I had my first crush. He was a year older than me and probably didn't know me from Eve but I eventually got to meet his brother and became friends with him years later. Found out that my first crush got married and adopted two children to raise as his own to which I wish him happiness and good luck. Around my 8th grade year the school district began discussing moving the 9th grade to high school and my class was the first freshman class at Mary Carroll High School. While at high school people remember me as a quiet, academic type involved with several school events. Sometimes they would mistake me for the teacher with some of the clothes that I wore. (Our principal at the time would not allow the students to wear shorts to school; even if we were an open walkway campus in South Texas!) I was involved with organizations such as student council, junior and senior council, National Honors Society, Los Empandores (Spanish Honor Society), Tigerette drill team manager then director's assistant, Who's Who Among American High School students. I was BIG into school spirit as evidence by my tiger print t-shirts, painting and hanging signs to rally the football team onto victory, attending the pep rallies, selling ribbons in senior council for school spirit to decorating the wings for homecoming. During my senior year of high school the principal died and in his memory a scholarship was set up. I was the first graduate awarded this scholarship; the H.J. Cantu Memorial Endowment Scholarship. I graduated Carroll High School in 1993 with honors and progressed into college after taking the summer off. I began attending Del Mar College in the fall 1993 where I went for two years to complete my undergraduate work. After my first semester at Del Mar I was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, an international honors society for junior college students, and won the outstanding student of the year for psychology. I later went on to be named a hall of fame semifinalist for Del Mar College and published in various publications including Whose Who Among American Junior College Students and National Dean's List. I transferred to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 1995 where I graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology in 1997. After college graduation I took additional training for counseling and entered the employment world as an counselor intern. My first job in the counseling world was working for a Texas Department Criminal Justice contracted facility or, as the field calls it, a Transiti...Expand for more