In her own words, Roxanne tells her Orion story...

My name is Roxanne Williams and I was brought into this world on December 20, 1985. I have two older brothers and an older sister. As a child I really never had a relationship with my father or my mother or ever really knew them due to drugs. My other siblings and I went to live with my grandmother which is my father’s mother. Around this time I was four years old. We had to live with my grandmother because my parents were on drugs at the time so they were unable to care for us. So my grandmother took us in and cared for us as best as she could and did I mentioned that at this time she was around sixty or sixty five years old. As my sister got older she eventually moved out and took my brothers along with her. Since I was the youngest I was left with my grandmother. At the age of ten or eleven my parents decided that they were going to clean up the act and get it together which meant they wanted me to live with them. So my grandmother decided that they were stronger enough and went ahead and let me go with them. This was a big mistake I believe that my grandmother made. I believe that if I had stayed with her my life wouldn’t have turned upside down after I moved with my parents. I think it was only a couple of months and they were back doing drugs again.

 My sister now was old enough to take care of all of us so she did. She took my two brothers, here two kids and I got a place to stay and we all moved in. All was going well, I was doing well in school and everything until my sister decided to move with some guy. I stayed with my sister for a couple of years until she decided to move away with him. Well I didn’t go with her and her two kids. I felt like that was her life and she didn’t need some teenager tagging along with the big happy family. So around this time I was talking to this guy for a year or so now and he asked me to move in with him and I did. I was eighteen and in the twelfth grade at this time and I just dropped out. No reason just was caught up in this life with an older guy and just quit school. That was the biggest mistake that I could have made. I should have never quit school. I was doing so well; I was an A and B student. I’ve always strived to have good grades in school. So the guy that asked me to move in with him was the guy that I got pregnant by. I was with this guy for some years now and I ended up getting pregnant with my daughter. Now I’m a single mother in a world with nothing but opportunity to do what you want to do and be whatever you want to be in this world. Now it’s my turn to take advantage of what’s out there in this world. My daughter means the world to me and I owe it all to her. If it wasn’t for her honestly I believe that I would be still doing NOTHING in this big world of opportunity.

For a couple of years now I’ve wanted to finish high school and get my diploma but I didn’t want to get a GED. That was just my personal choice and I’ve always wanted to go to college someday. Now that I have a small child it’s more apparent now to have my dream come true. The only thing that was holding me back was that I didn’t have a high school diploma. So I made a promise to myself that when my daughter turns five I would have graduated from college and have a nice house for us to live in all by ourselves. So one day I was surfing the net and I came across Orion’s web site. Made the call to Dr. Gallegos and enrolled online to Orion High School. Honestly that was the best positive choice that I have made in a long time. Now I have the opportunity to do something with my life and give a better life to my daughter. Now I have a huge weight lifted off my shoulders; I have a high school diploma now. I am very excited to go to college. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and now I have the opportunity to do it now thanks to Orion. So now I will be starting college at Prairie View A & M University in the spring with a major in Nursing. I am looking forward to my new life as a college student and I owe it all to Orion.