Local essay claims national honor
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In winning fourth place in the national essay scholarship competition, she bested approximately 600 students from across the country.
Her essay, entitled “Taking Charge of My Life,” describes her struggle to enter college 13 years after graduating high school and having encountered numerous setbacks along the way.
Crittenden joined the Navy soon after graduating from Grundy County High School in 1990. With three years of service behind her, she and her husband, Daniel, also a sailor, had their first son and she was given an honorable discharge.
Not long after their son’s birth, Daniel, too, was unexpectedly discharged on medical grounds. With no other options available to them, the couple and child returned to Tennessee.
With the family just beginning to get on its feet, the couple had a second son who was born with asthma and required breathing treatments.
“And then, just when we thought everything was going to be OK, we had another child, a girl,” said Crittenden.
With three children, she and Daniel began to think about the kids’ futures and realized to make something of themselves, the children would have to go to college.
“But we can’t push for our kids to get their degrees if we don’t have them too, so we decided we had better go back to school. That was the main push for us,” she said.
With this in mind, Crittenden enrolled at Motlow last January. Taking classes last spring and this summer, as well as 22 credit hours this semester, she is scheduled to graduate from the community college next May. Upon doing so she said she plans to transfer to Tennessee to pursue a degree in elementary education so she can enter the teaching profession.