"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way."
Born into slavery, to a slave mother and a white plantation owner father, you were not given the opportunity of acquiring an education. In fact, it was illegal that you obtain one. At an early age, you were tasked with carrying 100-pound sacks. You observed a schoolhouse near your plantation with children seated at desks reading books. You yearned to do what those children were doing.
At nine years old you went to work in a nearby salt furnace with your new freedman stepfather. Your mother knew of your yearning to learn so she bought you a book. Getting up at 4 a.m., because you still had to work later, you learned the alphabet and to read. At ten you began a new job venture as a houseboy for Viola Ruffner, wife of a coal mine owner. Viola saw your desire for learning and allowed you to go to school for an hour a day. No matter the circumstances that you were born into, your quest for learning could not be averted.
At 16 years old you left home and walked 500 MILES to Hampton Normal Architectural Institue in Virginia, along the way finding odd jobs to support yourself. Upon arriving you had to convince the school to allow you to study and worked as their janitor in order to pay for your schooling. Your persistence was beyond remarkable.
I fought alongside my sister for our freedom from the Philippines (a country in which we held no ties and had wrongfully been brought to) to leave to Canada. Upon arriving in Canada I had already missed a year of schooling of what would have been my freshman year of college. That had been robbed from me. I had a High School Diploma from the Philippines that was unrecognizable by most of the western world. I had no idea how I was going to be accepted into school. The schools that I was applying to told me my mathematics was not worth anything and so my original goal to be a business major was completely ripped to shreds All I wanted was the chance to go to school, however, persistence always wins. I ultimately ended up getting accepted into school for a major even better than what I had planned for myself. Having gone through that taught me how often people take for granted having the opportunity to obtain an education.
You graduated from Hampton in 1875 with high marks and were awarded a scholarship used to found your school, Tuskegee University. A university that allowed black people to obtain a higher education.
Your drive in pursuing an education inspires my own pursuit of being excellent.
No dream is too big.
Sincerely,
Kayla Mary Jane
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