Nelson Mandela once said: “It seems impossible until it’s done”. My belief is very close to that, it is just that in my case, I am still making progress . My challenges, although they seem impossible, as soon as I start working on them and believe in myself that it can be done, I find it easy to stay motivated, and it gives me the strength to continue.

So: “It seems impossible until you start working on it and believe you can do it”, this is a phrase that keeps me going and motivate me to go through challenges in life. Most of the challenges in my life seemed impossible at first, but once I put myself to it and dedicated myself, I found it easy and kept on going.

Once in my life, at 17 years old, after my high school graduation, I boarded a plane by myself, from West Africa to the United States, not knowing what to expect on this side of the world. I could barely speak English, and even though my dad made every possible arrangement for me here in the U.S., I still was not sure of what to expect. I can even remember the night my family took me to the airport; my mom was in tears. However, those facts did not keep me from traveling and pursuing my dreams, I was excited to travel and continue my studies. It all seemed impossible, but it is something that I wanted and I worked hard for it. After a semester of taking intense English classes, I was able to pass the TOEFL, and enrolled into New River Community College after passing the required exams in fall of 2007, to get my Associates Degree. It was hard, I can remember all those time I sat in the classroom, trying to translate from English to French to get a better understanding, I can remember having to email my teachers after classes to get more explanation on certain subjects. Often I was in the library, studying. All that hard work