Niara Imani Riddick: Personal Narrative

Niara Imani Riddick. Woman of purpose that brings peace. This name was given to me two weeks after the day I was born, May 20th, 1999. Born at five pounds, six ounces and five weeks early to a child herself, Bianca Riddick, who was at the tail end of her 10th-grade year in high school and fresh into sixteen.
“Super day super mom!”. This is what I used to say to my mom every morning before High School, starting in the ninth grade. She would, of course, say it back, “Super day superstar!”. It seemed as though it was this simple text message every morning that got me to where I am currently, that one text that got me through the grueling pressures of High School in order to be where I am today. In reality, it wasn’t. Many obstacles have tried

to hold me back on my success, unknowing to me at the time that they were all permitting me to where I stand today. A young black woman, attending one of the single most successful Historically Black Colleges in the nation, majoring in the pre-professional law program. Without the trials of Elementary, tribulations of Middle School and lessons of High School, there would not be a Niara Imani Riddick that everyone knows today.
Moving from New York was not hard for me because I was used to relocating and changing schools. From kindergarten to second grade I went to four schools in multiple parts of Long Island and Manhattan. There was Catholic school with Mrs. Monzone, another religious school with Mrs. Jackson, Park Avenue with Mrs. Wallace, and a small school in New York City that I can't remember the name of but I remember being pooped on by a pigeon. Coming to Charlotte, North Carolina was not hard because at this point in my life, as a seven-year-old I was already used to making new friends, meeting new teachers, and readjusting to the maze of a new school. What surprised me about the wonderful city was the amount of sunshine in February, the calmness of the pedestrians, and the new struggles that came with not living so close to family members. After moving to Charlotte, I attended another three Elementary schools but for different reasons. This time it was because of evictions and lack of money. From third to fifth grade I attended First Ward, University Meadows, and Stoney Creek and quickly became a problem child.
Middle school brought me another set of