Finding A Place Where I belong

It all started in the fall of last year when I started going to college at the University of North Florida. I was checking out everything that was going at the campus one day and had come across a group of people with a canopy and drinks. They were playing sports at The Green which was in front of The Fine Arts Building. I started talking to some of them and a feeling of happiness came over me the longer I stayed there with them. Against what I would normally do, I decided to stay and hang out and play games. I am happy I did because I got to know some of them better. Since that first day, I have gone back and played with them every time I had gotten the chance. I played all sorts of games with them and even learned new ones. Each time, I got to meet new people and have fun.

After that first meeting on The Green, it was time to check out their first Thursday Night Meeting of the semester or what everyone calls it, NAVs on Air. It was awesome and a little overwhelming. There were a lot of people there and I did not know where I should go. In the end, I decided to sit down by myself, but that did not last long. I was invited to join a group of people when another student named Mary Hamm came over to talk with me. Ever since that night, I have been sitting with her and doing group sessions. When I am confused or unsure of how to follow everyone, she gives me a lending hand along with any of the leaders like Alex and Keith to name just two. It was extremely helpful for me to get to know everyone and the Bible. Through the different lessons they taught, I was able to begin to understand how to read the Bible and begin to find my faith in the Lord which is something that I was having a hard time being able to do.

By talking to Mary and going to NAVs on Air, I was able to open up and talk to more people about a problem from high school that kept me from branching out and finding out who I was and how to connect to other people. For you to truly understand how big this was for me to talk about, I need to tell you more about it. I have always struggled with talking to other people, and I got bullied by other students who I believe did not understand me. They made me want to walk away from school and for a while, I tried to find every loophole I could to stay out of school. Eventually, my mom figured it out and I went to a school called The Noble School that was perfect for me. Now because I was bullied, I decided it was best to close myself off from other people so I could not get hurt again. It was at NAVs that I finally discovered that this was a very bad habit that I needed to break.

After this breakthrough, I was able to join a small group of girls that talked about the Bible and went over different chapters with each other. One of the girls who helped move forward was a student named Alexis Anthony. She helped guide me through the talks and understand what was going on. We meet every Wednesday, and we go over a section of the bible that we are reading from, and at the end, we get a partner to go on Lady Dates with. Through these dates, I have gotten a chance to know each of the girls in the study and learn more about the Bible through what they can teach me.

All these reasons are why I call The UNF Navigators home. They helped me branch out and meet new people. I have got to become part of a group of great girls who helped me move forward and still do. And I found a new friend in both Mary Hamm and Alexis Anthony who showed me that I could open up with other people.