Never Give Up

The year was 1980 and a baby girl by the name of Winter Rochelle Vann was born to one
Mary Ann Vann on December 22, 1980. No father has ever been put on the birth certificate.
Winter is the third child out of five; four girls and one boy. Though, I did not have a father,
assistance raising me came from a God-mother named Beulah Johnson and Wanda Johnson
being her daughter. These people are influential in Winter becoming the person she is today.
Winter resided in the city of Portsmouth with her mother and sisters up until school age. The
Family moved out of state to Delaware where Winter was exposed to country life and mixed or
dominant White or Hispanic integrated schools. At the age of fourteen the family moved back to
Virginia. I had my daughter at the age of sixteen. I graduated high school (viz. I. C. Norcom) two
years later.
My journey to become an interdisciplinarian began at the age nineteen and ending this
year. This road is paved with highs and lows and some self-reflection on my part to end up at this
point today. This autobiography will not go into full detail of my past, it will just highlighting
some moments in my life that helped me. Starting from the moment I dropped out of Norfolk
State the first time, to the hardships I endured while making a second attempt at a career for
myself.
In 2000 a decision was made to go to college. Schedules where printed out and books
where paid for. During my initial enrollment with Norfolk State my major was nursing. Already
holding a nursing assistance license, the RN program was an obvious choice. Not knowing that
obstacles would soon come my way; life began to take a spiral. Let me back track, by this time I
had already had a daughter she might have been four at the time and a live in boyfriend who was

a high school sweetheart. He left me and had another baby on the way. Then, began to second
guess myself and the years of court battles over the child. So, I dropped out. The next couple of
years were filled with bad ideas and boyfriends to go with thoughs ideas. This was also around
the time, I had my second child. I was having communication (i.e. connection) problems with my
God- mom and my mother was a drug addict so, she could not give me insight into the rights and
wrongs of life.
The year was 2007 and my third child was born. At this time I am working for mentally
disabled individuals and my mode of thought is to still party and have fun. What was not said
was I lost custody of my daughter to her father because, after he cheated he married the girl and
they bought a house so in the eye of the law a two family home was better than a single parent
home. Drugs and alcohol masked the pain. Working a partime job and partying full time, not
realizing the discourse of my actions. I ended up getting kicked out. Being kicked out of my
home put things into perspective for me. My recourse was to seek spiritual enlightenment while
bouncing around from place to place. In 2009 my nursing licenses got reinstated and I began to
practice nursing again. By this time there has been constant mentioning of going back to school
one day.
While, working at this nursing home I decided to move out a family members house and
into a shelter. There, at the shelter is where the ball got rolling for me to return to school, buy
this time the year is 2010. I started back in the nursing program and for the first two years took
nonthing by nursing courses pre-requisites for the nursing program. By this time my mother has
died and I went to Georgia to fulfill a dream that, I always us to tell her slow down so you can
see one of your grandchildren graduate high school this was around the same time, I found out
my application for the nursing program was denied. I had to regroup so, I want to school and

pick out three program that could work with my current curriculum path. Social work would
have required me to stay at Norfolk State maybe an extra year and Political Science did not
interest me. I decided to enroll into Interdisciplinary Studies (i.e. INT). This was the only major
that allowed me to continue my current field of interest at the same time teach me about myself.
Learning how to become a better me was the main reason for choosing INT. Not knowing that
but taking this career path I would get so much more out of life.
Since becoming an interdisciplinary studies major my eye have been opened. As a result
communication skills have improved, the way, I approach situations have changed and my
organization skills have been revamped. These goals are highlighted in the brochure, offered for
reading in the INT office and so far everything that brochure said would happen as an INT major
has happened. It is the countdown to graduation and I still do not have a clear job lined up, I
know one thing is for sure by getting a college degree my opportunities are unlimited.