The existence of aliens, bigfoot, and ghosts have always been highly debatable topics for me. However, the existence of time travel is one thing I adamantly believe in. The reason is simple: I myself am a time traveler.

I’ve found that the past has always been a very interesting terrain that I enjoy exploring. While I may not have a mythical machine to zap me backward across space-time, I’ve somehow found myself wandering through ancient cities often in my lifetime. I have an affinity for falling through gaps in the pages of ancient Greek historical texts and being sucked into Egypt through the screen of a documentary, somehow managing to forget my passport every time. This peculiar skill manifested after I began learning classical– read: dead–languages such as Latin. I did, however, remember to bring a passport when I went to Italy with a Latin group my sophomore year of high school. Walking through the streets of Rome is enough to give a girl whiplash, as she can be walking down a perfectly modern street, then turn a corner and run smack into an Egyptian pyramid. Yes, you heard correctly folks. There is a pyramid in Rome.

My present is a pleasant place to be and holds just as much mystery as the future, despite my compartmentalization complex which drives me to schedule everything down to the last half-second. I’m a Mass Communications major at Piedmont College, a student worker, and a Track and Field athlete. Despite my best efforts to keep organized, not even a time-traveler can control the waves of life, and I have to relax and go with the flow when the tides turn. This is a lesson I learned whilst making my way to Piedmont. I quite like money, and lament to say that I’ve never had much of it. This became quite an obstacle to getting in college, but I knew that Piedmont was the right fit for me, so I worked hard and left the rest up to faith. That’s what I am doing currently.

On my trips to the future, I’ve been a passenger rather than the captain steering the ship. Tiny hands gripped the wheel, but I’d been granted the privilege to stand by as a navigator. Through volunteer work as a Life Group teacher at First Baptist Church of Snellville, as well as working in Children’s Ministry and at Davis Martial Arts Studio, I have been able to connect with hundreds of children. The opportunity to hear the stories of so many kids has both broken my heart and strengthened it, but mostly it has given me hope for what the world will become. They have inspired me to snatch up my own dreams, because if a child can push through all of the boundaries placed in front of them and remain unshaken then I should follow their example. I want to encourage everyone to reach through their own struggles toward the stars. Per aspera ad astra!