Early Years

I was born in Washington D.C. on Saturday, September 27, 1997, to Tasha Duggar and Ronald Craig Jr. A few months after I was born, my father went to prison and has been there my entire life. For the majority of my life, I was raised by my mother and a handful of family members who chose to play a part in my life. I grew up in Landover, Md, Southeast, D.C., and in later years lived in Bowie, Hyattsville, and Temple Hills, Md. Having a single mother and being the oldest of three, Dayvid Crutchfield (brother) and Naytasha Ferrell (sister), I knew that I had to grow up and make sure my family was taken care of. My mother did her best to make ends meet and she did a fantastic job. I often wondered how she did it. Once I got a sense of what money really meant and how much my mom made, I could no longer sit around and watch her struggle and try to provide for all of us. So, "I hopped off the porch" in 7th grade. I became a drug dealer at a young age to support my brother, sister, and me to avoid asking my mother for anything. If I could get it, I would. This lifestyle continued until my 11th-grade year of high school. The main reason I started selling drugs was that I was too young to get a job,  however, I stopped because the risk of my family losing yet another one to the system, or worse; It was not worth it. Eventually, my mom met my stepfather and all our lives changed. My stepfather and I had a lot of problems and it became difficult to live under the same roof. On the last day of school in my 8th grade year our family got evicted; this was the first time we became homeless. Because I started to feel like a burden, I felt as though I needed to give my family some space. During my most transitional summer, going from middle school to high school, I floated from house to house staying with anyone I could while my brother and sister stayed with my grandparents. 

Sure enough, the problems from home affected my performance in school. In my freshman year of high school, I received a 1.8 GPA which helped me reach my breaking point. I ran away. I continued floating around again over the summer.  When the next school year began, I moved to my grandparent house and the problems at home slowly faded away. Although I still made poor decisions and couldn’t quite leave the lifestyle I formerly lived, I somehow managed to raise my 1.8 to a 3.65, then 3.85 junior years, and finally a 4.0 my senior year. As time continues I move again...then graduate.