Personal Statement
My name is Darien Williams and I live in Tacoma, Washington. That is where I have spent the majority of my life, although I did live in Puyallup, Washington for 11 years from the time I was four until I was 15. I have had a long and meaningful journey up to 16 years old. I was born in 1998 at Saint Joseph's hospital in Tacoma, Washington. My mom and dad split up when I was three because my dad made some poor decisions with his life. He struggled with addiction and so did the rest of the Williams family, which is what caused me and my mom to move to Puyallup, away from all of the drama and chaos.
The first school I ever attended was Horace Mann Elementary in Tacoma. My mom and I commuted every day from Puyallup and I ate breakfast with my cousins every morning at my grandma's house. Still to this day I do that, but without my cousins. At one point, it got too hard to drive so far every morning so my mom just switched me into the Puyallup school district. I ended up attending Zeiger Elementary and then Ballou Junior High. I was supposed to go to Rogers High School for the 10th grade, but my mom knew I wanted to go to Lincoln High School with all of my family and the majority of my friends. My mom got over her fear of moving back to Tacoma near the family and the drama and I was able to attend Lincoln.
Moving to Tacoma and going to Lincoln was one of the best decisions my mom and I ever made. I wanted to go to Lincoln ever since I was a kid, and it all worked out. I ended up starting on varsity football my sophomore year as well as my junior year playing Corner Back. There are many times I look back to when I lived in Puyallup and think of how things would have been so different if I never would have experienced all that Lincoln had to offer. I am referring to Coach Kitna's great “Real Man” philosophy. He taught all of us football players to R: reject passivity E: empathize with others A: accept responsibility and L: lead courageously. I took this philosophy seriously and I live by it every day. Sadly, Coach Kitna decided to leave us just after football season my Junior year. The team was devastated, shocked, mad and sad at the decision he made, because we loved him and looked up to him. He left us stranded and alone to wait around for a new coach. We felt abandoned and for many of us soon to be seniors next year, it would be our last season. We thought he would be with us until the end. After three long months, our new coach arrived and we love him just as much, maybe more. He is perfect for the job and has the same type of mindset as Coach Kitna.
I am so thankful to have had great male role models in my life because, unfortunately, my dad was in an out of jail the majority of his life. He got involved with drug distribution and struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. I still saw him often throughout my life and was able to maintain a relationship with him. I knew he always loved me and cared for me no matter what. You could say I lost my innocence at a very young age due to some of he things that I have seen, but I don’t look at it that way. Everything that I have seen has allowed me to use it as a learning experience. I know that I didn't want to be doing the same thing as that person. Although there have been countless times that I have had a chance to do drugs or take a drink I have chosen not to, because I know what it has done to my family and I don't want to go down the same path as my dad and uncles.
I am one of the luckiest kids on earth to have had the mom that I have in my life. My mom taught me how to be a man because she is strong and resilient. Her strength and resilience passed on to me over years of repetition and teaching. I am proud to say that I have maintained good grades throughout junior high and High School. I never broke because things didn't go my way or because things were tough, because I knew that “the people who make it and become successful in life are the ones that can get back up and keep pushing no matter how hard things get”. I am glad I have had many obstacles in my life, because I learned the absolute real way to deal and cope with things because I wasn't sheltered from what really goes on in the world.
Everyone at Lincoln, my family and mostly my mom have taught me hard work and dedication. Being that were very poor at one point and my mom had to work 5 jobs just to flick on the lights and provide food for us – I learned from her struggles - how she would grind just to take care of me. It is because of her that I work that much harder so that one day she wont have to work so much anymore - because I owe it to her. She has been the best mom I could ever have and I will never be able to thank her enough for what she has done for me.
In spite of all the things I have gone through in my life and of the struggles in my family, I believe they have made me the person I am today. Without the rocky times, I would have been a whole different person. I thank all of the great role models in my life - my mom, my dad, my coaches and the rest of my family for making me the man I am. I don't wish anything had went different in my life and I thank God for everything he has done and all of the favor he has given me.
Respectfully,
Darien Lamar Williams, Jr.
