My Last Year of Undergrad Fund

Hello, my name is Traycie Williams. Thank you for taking time to read my campaign for educational funding! I entered the University of Central Missouri three years ago with short-term goals of earning bachelor's degrees in dietetics and biology (with a minor in chemistry) and long-term goals of earning a Registered Dietitian's credential and a Ph.D. in Medical Nutrition Science from the University of Kansas. I arrived at UCM in 2017, a non-traditional student at 36 years of age, humbled by life and teachable. However, I endured a great deal of hardship to reach this point in my life and my education. Please allow me to provide you with an account of my life experiences, as they pertain to my education, to help you better understand why I'm asking you to help fund the last year of my undergraduate education.

The past...

I was born into bitter poverty and my childhood was nothing short of horror. I define bitter poverty as having no food, electricity, water, clean clothing, or even a home. You can imagine the horror. My brothers and I often went without seeing our parents for long periods of time, we were passed from house-to-house and moved state-to-state often, and there was always an adult who wanted to beat a child or abuse them in other ways. Imagine how difficult it is to go to school and learn when your stomach is growling or you're going to the guidance counselor's office so they can photograph your cuts and bruises. Roaches crawled out of my shoes during class often, we ALWAYS had head lice, and we smelled badly in the same clothing every day. I didn't respond well to those experiences, and I subsequently spent my adolescence and early adulthood running away from them. Unfortunately, and this is my greatest shame, I failed to choose a different way. The cycle is vicious and so hard to see when trapped in it, I assure you.

I began my college career in Boonville Correctional Center in 2009. I was barely clinging to my life when I was arrested and sent back to prison for the fourth time earlier that year. I failed to adjust well to society as result of my anger toward my life circumstances, so I enrolled in Psychology 1320 (human adjustment) and History 1350 when State Fair Community College offered college courses to inmates at BCC. I was learning about Maslow's hierarchy of needs when it first occurred to me that I had perpetuated the cycle of poverty and crime that I was raised in in my young son's life and the lives of many of my girlfriends' children. Christian was six years old at the time, and I set the same example for him that I had as a boy. I accepted responsibility for the example that I set upon that realization. I was powerless to break the cycle that I was raised in, and raising Christian in, when I took those courses at BCC. However, my experiences there taught me how to take control of my life. I went on to hold the highest leadership position in my behavioral treatment program before I left prison for the last time in 2010. I began my college career in a place where men were being raped and stabbed in the neck with ballpoint pens, and persevering in that environment helped me to realize my power. I left with new knowledge, a new perspective, and a 4.0 GPA. Even in shame, that is significant growth.

By 2012, I was free and driving a trash truck full-time. I simultaneously threw a paper route for the Kansas City Star for nearly a year of that time, but I left to re-enter college when the opportunity presented itself. I was taking general education courses at Metropolitan Community College-Blue River and I was active in Christian's life for the first time. I lacked direction in my educational path during that time but I was interested in human health, so I enrolled in an online exercise science program at Bryan University in the spring of 2015. That program lacked value, but it introduced me to the study of nutrition. I left BU and re-enrolled in MCC where I took introductory courses in chemistry and biology in preparation for the dietetics program at UCM. I served as vice president and hallmark officer of MCC's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa simultaneously for one year, I led the chapter's "Honors in Action" project, and I was awarded renewable Jane and John Strandberg and MCC President's Scholarships in 2016. I was subsequently named to Phi Theta Kappa's 2017 All-Missouri Academic Team (1st Team), I was named as my chapter's distinguished officer, and I was the keynote speaker at MCC's annual scholarship banquet. I declared a double major in dietetics and biology (with a minor in chemistry) to my peers during my speech at the scholarship banquet, and I set my previously mentioned short- and long-term goals before entering UCM a few months later. I firmly understood the cycle that I was raised in at this point.

I entered UCM with purpose in the fall of 2017. I began work on my honors project and served as president of UCM's Honors College Student Association Executive Board and my residence hall executive board during my first semester, and I served as a Community Advisor in the spring of 2018. I was lab assistant to UCM's faculty chef for the 2018-2019 academic year, and I have been a research assistant in the dietetics program since I enrolled at UCM. I presented data from my honors research in dietary oxidized lipids at the university, Missouri regional, and national levels. Most recently, I presented data pertaining oxidized lipids at Nutrition 2020, the American Society for Nutrition's annual conference (the largest nutrition conference in the world). I am also a member of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program (Classes of 2019 and 2020). I completed my first summer research internship at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and I am currently working as Primary Investigator on a project of my own design entitled "The Microbiome of the Gut: The E. coli Hypothesis." I was presented with the Fall 2019 Learning to a Greater Degree Award in December of 2019, I was the keynote speaker at the UCM Alumni Association 1st Annual Homecoming Breakfast, and, most recently, my educational journey was featured in the the UCM Magazine. The article entitled "Food Insecurity Leads Non-Traditional Student to Dietetics" highlights the ways in which my life experiences led me to my educational path. Finally, I was the recipient of the Regina Myers McClain Distinguished Scholarship for two consecutive years (2018-2019), the Regina Myers McClain Scholarship (2020-2021), the Carlos E. Kays Biology and Earth Science Scholarship (2019-2020), the Kathryn Eydt Payne Scholarship (2018-2019), and the Tolivar H. Franklin Scholarship (2017-2018).

Back to present...

I am a non-traditional student with non-traditional responsibilities. As result of my incarceration, I owe a child support debt for Christian. In 2013, my youngest son, Tristan, was born. I corrected every poor choice that I made with Christian to better raise Tristan but his mom chose to leave anyway. I hired a lawyer, petitioned the court for rights to Tristan, and incurred another child support case. To support my sons while pursuing my education, I drove a trash truck full-time, worked part-time in home renovation, and sold my blood plasma twice a week while attending classes on a part- to full-time basis for five years (2012-2017). I paid the principle amount of child support on both my sons and paid an arrearage debt of greater than $25,000 down to under $9,000 by the time I entered UCM. Unfortunately, I can't drive a truck while attending university full-time and my child support debt once again exceeds $25,000. I maintain my employment as a research assistant at UCM, and half of my employment wages are garnished to satisfy my child support debt, but I can't work enough hours in a day to pay $1,500 a month in child support, learn the chemistry and biology of life, and support myself as a student. This is an impossible situation.

For all my effort, I was forced to abandon my double major for lack of financial resources in the fall of 2019. This was a hard to decision to make because I worked diligently toward my goal for two years, but I dropped my biology major to a minor and was forced to abandon my chemistry minor. I chose to continue on with my dietetics major, but I am $6,000 short of my 2020-2021 budget after receiving one scholarship this year. What I have done here is to detail the daily sacrifices of a father who picked himself up from the grave and chose life. However, to have life I must create life. To create life, I must break the cycle that inhibits life. I have held myself up under impossible circumstances, but now I need help standing up so I can finish what I started. May I please ask you to help me finish my last year of my undergraduate education, move on to graduate school, and break this cycle once and for all? I promise to pay it both inward and forward, and I solemnly swear to use my education to grow our world into the fruitful, life-sustaining place it can be! Let the evidence speak for itself. Thank you for hearing my plea.

I included a video in which I posit my opinion on the racism issue. This is one way in which I am using my education to break other cycles that plague the human species. The photo gallery includes highlights (mostly in chronological order) from the events portrayed in this campaign. Also, my Facebook account is a great way to get a snapshot of who I am as a person. I want you to know me for the lifelong learner that I am.