Her life was filled with difficulties that make her story of overcoming adversity all the more valuable. Linda Eddens-Tanner stood before her fellow graduates at Essex County College in New Jersey, United States, to receive her diploma as the top student.
She reached this milestone after years of overcoming abandonment, abuse, homelessness, and an attention disorder that the institution had claimed would prevent her from taking regular classes.
Standing on the stage, Eddens-Tanner became an example of someone who faced the adversities of having lived in foster care homes and managed to earn a university degree.
Linda's hard life
On the day of her birth in Newark, Linda did not return home from the hospital with her biological mother, who suffered from deep psychological problems.
She was immediately placed in the foster care system and at age 5 was adopted for the first time. But shortly after, the woman who adopted her passed away, and the young girl re-entered the system, where she stayed in several facilities and was even removed from one due to neglect.
Together with her sister Emerald, they lived for a time in Irvington, were both diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and were enrolled in an elementary school for children with special needs. Her sister, at age 9, was able to transfer without difficulty to a traditional school but did not manage to graduate.
Linda, for her part, remained in the special school until eighth grade, a grade that, according to her, school administrators forced her to repeat. She describes this situation as devastating because she believed she was capable of moving on to the next level.
At 14, she moved to Pennsylvania with a foster family and enrolled in regular classes, but at 17, the inappropriate behavior of a household member forced her to move again. This is when a period of "homelessness" began for her, living on her friends' couches.
What came after high school graduation?
Eddens-Tanner graduated and managed to enroll for one semester at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but had to withdraw when her financial aid was cut because her adoptive mother in Easton failed to submit the required documentation.
From the age of 18, she began working various jobs in supermarkets and restaurants; however, she became homeless a second time and had to sleep in her car and shower at the gym after her roommate failed to pay the rent and they were evicted.
Her message of resilience to her fellow graduates
Eddens-Tanner drew on her own experience when speaking before her fellow graduates. She advised them that they could be their own counselors.
"I began my academic journey in a special education school, where I was often defined by my ADHD. I realized that I had to be the one to change that narrative," she said from the stage.
Through her own merit, she gained entry into regular classes and graduated from high school as the top student in her class in Human and Social Services with a 4.0 grade point average.
Eddens-Tanner, the first in her family to earn a college degree and a young woman who spent much of her life in transitional homes, plans to continue studying nursing after the degree she has already obtained.
