NEW ALBANY, Ohio — It’s the moment students and families across the country are embracing: graduation season.
Madison Walker is a recent graduate from Marburn Academy in New Albany. It wasn’t an easy journey to high school graduation, but she says her biggest challenge has yet to come.
With each college application came 21 different essays.
“I wrote about my adoption story. It was a letter to my infant self because I was born addicted to narcotics because my [biological] mother was a drug addict,” she said.
Madison started life already behind. She was born with addictive substances in her body. She went through two months of withdrawal just as an infant.
Her biological mother faced addiction issues and had to give her up. That was when Tanya Walker adopted Madison and took her under her wing.
Tanya said her time raising Madison was a journey. She, who is a single mother, knew how important education is and Madison’s love for it didn’t come with challenges.
“We found out [in sixth grade] that she had executive function disorder,” she said.
It’s a behavioral symptom that disrupts a person’s ability to manage their own thoughts, emotions and actions. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it’s most common with certain mental health conditions such as addictions.
Madison said she was never the type of person who wanted to use her diagnosis as a crutch. And Tanya echoed that inspiration.
“Once we knew what it was, I told her it was a diagnosis, not a definition. What that means is this definition doesn’t define who you are,” she said.
It was a motivation for Madison to use her diagnosis as fuel to get her to where she is today.
“I push myself harder. I don’t want things to go easy for me. Even with teachers, I said ‘Push me, grade me harder than you would.' I want to exceed what I feel like I can. I want to do the best of my abilities,” she said.
“If you tell her she cannot do something, she’s not only going to do it, she’s going to try and do it better,” Tanya said.
For the last year, Madison’s been visiting dozens of colleges looking for the right fit. That’s when she found Emerson College in Boston.
“The first time we visited, I remember when my daughter came out of the school and I asked, ‘What do you think?’ She looked at me and said ‘I can breathe’,” Tanya said.
Twenty-one college applications and 21 essays later, Madison got the call from Emerson College and she was offered a full-ride scholarship.
“It was immediately a yes because I love that school,” she said.
“She found her people. She found her school. She’s going to love it and I’m going to love it because of that,” Tanya said.
The offers didn’t stop there. Madison has a list of 16 college acceptance letters and she said Tanya was the strength that helped her get there.
“She made all of those sacrifices and has not asked for anything in return besides me being successful, and that’s exactly what I’ve done,” Madison said.
The soon-to-be college freshman said she wants to be a speech pathologist to help others with one thing.
“I knew that’s something I wanted to do. I want to help people and give them a voice,” she said.