Crystal Clear: A Journey of Self-Discovery is a self-help/personal-growth memoir that highlights Crystal’s journey from public housing to Ivy League. Crystal’s Journey started in small-town Ozark, Alabama, as the seventh-born child of ten children, growing up on government assistance. At the age of eleven, Crystal watched her father inevitably lose his battle with cancer.
Crystal’s own life is a stark contract and message of hope. As a high-school senior, she applied for over thirty scholarships in an effort to see her dreams of college fulfilled. When she received her high-school diploma, in 2013, she obtained five academic scholarships with over $670,000 in funding, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship and the Army ROTC merit award. As a first-generation college student, Crystal learned how to successfully navigate through higher education with the help of mentorship by educators and inspirational speakers.
Through this book, Crystal hopes to reach and assist more students as she completes her final degree, her PhD in Public Health, at Yale University and continues to serve as an Army Officer.
Crystal’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness of the potential we all have as human beings and show that it is possible to rise against all odds and live out your wildest dreams. It takes courage it live out your dreams and create a path that is your own, but it’s possible! She sees herself as proof, as her own dreams continue to unfold, and with each step she encourages others to take steps toward their dreams as well.
