what that experience taught me wasn’t just that she was right – that adversity is a certainty – but the only person’s behavior that you can govern is your own. And just as importantly, what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
I’m still standing. Somebody say amen.
With my parents’ advice, I decided to be better...to work harder to overcome the preconceived notions and to prove I could not just perform at that school – but I could excel – at that school. And while my efforts may have been lost on my classmates, they were not lost on the Admissions Office here at Duke University.