Introduction

Barack Obama stated in his State of the Union Address, “We should see our differences as a great gift.” I agree with him.  My name is Tiani Reeves and I lived in a small town in the middle of Nebraska. To be exact it was Gothenburg, Nebraska. The population 3,500. There is only one other Gothenburg in the world. That happens to be Gothenburg Sweden. How did a girl like me end up in Gothenburg, Nebraska? Well,   I was adopted into a multi-ethnic family.  My parents were unable to have children of their own. After learning of this news my parents turned towards the idea of adoption. They went to Nebraska Children's Home, and began the long process of adoption. They had to through hours of paperwork and meetings. They were given my eldest brother, Micah, in December of 1987. My brother Micah participated in speech, and music. His senior year of high school he had the lead role in the musical “Oklahoma”. He also was a state speech champion, and qualified for national speech. Micah is currently a lawyer in Chicago.  Four years later my other sibling, Patrick, was born. Patrick was the social butterfly. He participated in everything, He was winter ball king. He also made it to national speech in a duet. Then one cold, rainy, day my Father is who a cross country coach was approached by a man. This man happened to be the director of the children's home. On that fateful day, my parents learned of my existence. The world became a better place on January 19th, 1997. If you didn't guess already that was the day I was born.  

Living in western Nebraska, and being the only young woman of color everywhere I went was not always easy. I was the only African American girl in my school. Writing for me was a way of expressing myself, without the fear of other people not understanding. I am good at all sorts of writing and for it doesn't matter what I have to write. Writing for me helped me get out into the world beyond my city limits. This situation has made me quickly realize that accepting and understanding one’s differences is the start to accepting yourself.  Sports have helped me to accept who I am for my talents and my diversity. Through sports I have met various types of people, no one quite like myself.  Sports taught me so many life lessons. My diversity has helped also in many aspects of life. I am able to relate to a lot of people and inspire people of diversity-girls mostly-to do things that they might not have otherwise tried to do.  I have tried to embrace my diversity and treat it as the gift it is.  

 As a young girl I was a dedicated, talented athlete concentrating on volleyball and track and field. My dad was my coach from the time I was  6 to the time I was 18.  I was a national champion long jumper at the age of 10. I traveled all around the country competing at track meets. I thought for much of my life that I would be a collegiate track athlete, instead  I am be attending the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to play volleyball. I was not awarded a scholarship to play at UNL, but I have always wanted to be a Husker.  I’m on the All-State Volleyball Team in 2013, 2014, and  2015. I won the Class B State Long Jump and Triple Jump in 2012, 2014, and 2015.  My senior season was the last time at state track with my dad being my coach. I won the All-state gold medal and had my dad present it to me. I have always been one to push myself beyond what other people thought I was capable of doing. I write to empower others.