The Adams' Family #GFMScholarship
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Cassidy Adams.
Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Ashland, Oregon, I am turning twenty-three this year.
I am currently attending college full time and working a part time job at The Village Baker of Ashland (A small bread manufacturing company).
Slowly, but surely, I am working toward a degree in technical theatre with a focus in lighting design. With this degree I hope to work in the architectural lighting design field. Currently, I am a member of the Nation Society of Collegiate Scholars and in my senior year of college.
When I was young I dreamt of becoming an onscreen actress. As a five year old, I was very stubborn and was absolutely sure that someday I would succeed in the acting industry. After going to a "˜cattle call', a large scale audition to find new talent, I was very lucky to get the opportunity to work with an agent who focused in commercials. With the money that I received from these commercials, I took a horse riding class and donated the remainder to various charities.
A little more than a year later, my family and I moved to Ashland, Oregon so that my parents could continue their college education while my sister and I had a wonderful education in a safe environment. I was able to continue my acting career with a new agency that was in Ashland at the time. Unfortunately, not too long after we moved to Ashland the 2000 stock market crash closed down the agency and also made all of my family's stock assets become essentially worthless.
Regardless of these disappointing events, I continued acting in my elementary school through miming and I also joined the school choir. I was at such a high reading level during this time (second grade) that my teacher let me spend all of my time in the library instead of attending the classes she was teaching. My time became divided between the library, after school woodshop, and other extracurricular activities.
The next year I moved to a different elementary school with better funding and more extracurricular activities. I began playing the marimba, taking extracurricular classes such as crocheting, and joining various afterschool sport teams. It was during this time that my mother had the first relapse that I can remember.
My mother, has muscular dystrophy called Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis and a different disorder called Homocystenuria which is a B vitamin absorption disorder. She is also regularly deficient in Vit. D, but we don't know why that is.HKPP and Homocystenuria can both be genetic, but not always. The chances are quite high though. Suddenly, my family was struggling to continue in the house we were renting. My mom was no longer able to work or go to school. This left everything up to my dad who was at the time going to school full time and working full time. Regardless of the amount of work he had to handle, he continued receiving straight As in every class he was taking.
Despite the struggles, we still continued on even as my mom's health grew worse and worse. I entered the National Youth Sports Program, a free summer camp for kids 10-16 throughout the Rogue Valley (this program is now discontinued). This program provided breakfast and lunch while also letting the students succeed through various sports including: Golf, Frisbee Golf, Swimming, Rock Climbing, Flag Football, Soccer, Track and Field, and many other sports. This is when I became especially attached to swimming, rock climbing, and track and field.
I joined the junior rock climbing team at Southern Oregon University, competed in many events at the public track and field meets, and went swimming every single day. On top of all of these events I also spent time teaching myself how to BMX.
Through all of my hard work I was awarded with an NYSP All Star award. "The NYSP all-star teams recognize participants who stand out in attendance (90 percent minimum), enthusiasm, leadership and teamwork, both in the sporting components and the educational portions of the program. NYSP uses this initiative to highlight positive examples of participants who properly conduct themselves on the road to success, even when there are bumps, puddles, roadblocks and detour signs masking the way." (Page 15 of http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/gwiedow/NYSP_DOCs/05_annual_report.pdf) I was also allowed to compete in a rock climbing competition with my team in Portland, Oregon.
Shortly after all of these successes, I was trying a new trick on my bicycle and got into an accident. I landed back and head first on a cement sidewalk. This stunt caused me to break my bicycle, break my helmet in two, and completely misalign my spine. I was brought to the hospital to have my spine realigned and even though my alignment was fixed, the pain caused by overexertion is now too much for me to compete in sports ever again.
The next year, I started my first year of Middle school. I continued playing marimba with my music group, which included outdoor concerts, and I also picked up playing the trombone. During the summer I learned CPR for adults and infants, while taking basic First Aid and Lifeguarding classes so that I could volunteer at the YMCA day care camp. This year, the doctors really began figuring out what was actually wrong with my mother. There was a lot of chaos in the next three years. I got back into acting and began performing in the school shows and I made sure that I was working very hard in my classes. The year that I graduated, my mom was in a wheelchair but it was also the year that I learned that I wanted to work in lighting design.
My freshman year of high school, I was taking honors classes. I worked in the well-funded technical theatre program, and also got the opportunity to take the last couple classes of film photography. Despite the fact that the photography class was always full to the point of people no longer being accepted into the class, there were severe funding cuts to "˜unnecessary' programs. Programs that were cut included: film photography, German language, and Japanese language. This was an especially hard year for my family. Although the doctors had finally found a treatment that worked for my mother, it wasn't too long after that that my grandfather (on my mom's side) committed suicide.
The next year my mom was really able to return to school again. In my last three years of high school, I feel that I accomplished a lot. I took many honors courses, especially in technical theatre and acting. I spent the majority of my time at the theatre and outside of that I was also working on creative writing, physics, chemistry, and algebra classes. During the summers I spent time volunteering for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Green Show. I was able to move up in my field and by my senior year I got the wonderful opportunity to work under Bart Grady as his Assistant Lighting Designer. For the same production (The 39 Steps, a stage adaptation) I was also working as the Projection Designer and helping train the new costume mistresses.
My father and mother were both able to complete their degrees. My mother was also able to return to work. This was a big accomplishment for both of them.
The last two years have been very crazy for me. I moved up to Portland, Oregon to continue my education at Portland State University. I solidified my schooling plans and have worked very hard to achieve the point that I am at today. Moving to Portland has taught me something very important about myself. I have learned that I don't like big cities, even if the city I'm in is a relatively small one. There are too many people that are always in too much of a hurry to see the beauty that is around them. In Ashland there are wide expanses of land that roll into these giant gentle hills on one side and these beautiful coniferous peaks on the opposite side. It has four distinct seasons so you can really feel the earth living around you. Due to these reasons I have decided to move back to my hometown to continue my theatre career.
I believe that this is a really good choice on my end because the theatre program at Southern Oregon University is significantly better than the one at Portland State University is. I have a wonderful supporting group of friends and a loving family.
However, recently my family has moved to Milwaukie, OR. My father is running a small company up here but has been unable develop a strong client base because he's been so busy helping keep the household in working order. We were doing fine because my mom had a good job but they had to let her go when she became very ill. In the last year my mom has had to have multiple surgeries to remove melanoma, and an abdominal surgery. These surgeries caused the treatment she had been using for the last five years to slowly fail.
I have been lucky enough to help support my family so that they could get back on to their feet. I know that right now they are unable to help me with my schooling or help ease my way back into my community in Ashland. That is why I so humbly ask for any donations that you feel that you can spare.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my story and my family. It's a great feeling just knowing that someone would take the time to consider me.
Sincerely,
Cassidy
Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Ashland, Oregon, I am turning twenty-three this year.
I am currently attending college full time and working a part time job at The Village Baker of Ashland (A small bread manufacturing company).
Slowly, but surely, I am working toward a degree in technical theatre with a focus in lighting design. With this degree I hope to work in the architectural lighting design field. Currently, I am a member of the Nation Society of Collegiate Scholars and in my senior year of college.
When I was young I dreamt of becoming an onscreen actress. As a five year old, I was very stubborn and was absolutely sure that someday I would succeed in the acting industry. After going to a "˜cattle call', a large scale audition to find new talent, I was very lucky to get the opportunity to work with an agent who focused in commercials. With the money that I received from these commercials, I took a horse riding class and donated the remainder to various charities.
A little more than a year later, my family and I moved to Ashland, Oregon so that my parents could continue their college education while my sister and I had a wonderful education in a safe environment. I was able to continue my acting career with a new agency that was in Ashland at the time. Unfortunately, not too long after we moved to Ashland the 2000 stock market crash closed down the agency and also made all of my family's stock assets become essentially worthless.
Regardless of these disappointing events, I continued acting in my elementary school through miming and I also joined the school choir. I was at such a high reading level during this time (second grade) that my teacher let me spend all of my time in the library instead of attending the classes she was teaching. My time became divided between the library, after school woodshop, and other extracurricular activities.
The next year I moved to a different elementary school with better funding and more extracurricular activities. I began playing the marimba, taking extracurricular classes such as crocheting, and joining various afterschool sport teams. It was during this time that my mother had the first relapse that I can remember.
My mother, has muscular dystrophy called Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis and a different disorder called Homocystenuria which is a B vitamin absorption disorder. She is also regularly deficient in Vit. D, but we don't know why that is.HKPP and Homocystenuria can both be genetic, but not always. The chances are quite high though. Suddenly, my family was struggling to continue in the house we were renting. My mom was no longer able to work or go to school. This left everything up to my dad who was at the time going to school full time and working full time. Regardless of the amount of work he had to handle, he continued receiving straight As in every class he was taking.
Despite the struggles, we still continued on even as my mom's health grew worse and worse. I entered the National Youth Sports Program, a free summer camp for kids 10-16 throughout the Rogue Valley (this program is now discontinued). This program provided breakfast and lunch while also letting the students succeed through various sports including: Golf, Frisbee Golf, Swimming, Rock Climbing, Flag Football, Soccer, Track and Field, and many other sports. This is when I became especially attached to swimming, rock climbing, and track and field.
I joined the junior rock climbing team at Southern Oregon University, competed in many events at the public track and field meets, and went swimming every single day. On top of all of these events I also spent time teaching myself how to BMX.
Through all of my hard work I was awarded with an NYSP All Star award. "The NYSP all-star teams recognize participants who stand out in attendance (90 percent minimum), enthusiasm, leadership and teamwork, both in the sporting components and the educational portions of the program. NYSP uses this initiative to highlight positive examples of participants who properly conduct themselves on the road to success, even when there are bumps, puddles, roadblocks and detour signs masking the way." (Page 15 of http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/gwiedow/NYSP_DOCs/05_annual_report.pdf) I was also allowed to compete in a rock climbing competition with my team in Portland, Oregon.
Shortly after all of these successes, I was trying a new trick on my bicycle and got into an accident. I landed back and head first on a cement sidewalk. This stunt caused me to break my bicycle, break my helmet in two, and completely misalign my spine. I was brought to the hospital to have my spine realigned and even though my alignment was fixed, the pain caused by overexertion is now too much for me to compete in sports ever again.
The next year, I started my first year of Middle school. I continued playing marimba with my music group, which included outdoor concerts, and I also picked up playing the trombone. During the summer I learned CPR for adults and infants, while taking basic First Aid and Lifeguarding classes so that I could volunteer at the YMCA day care camp. This year, the doctors really began figuring out what was actually wrong with my mother. There was a lot of chaos in the next three years. I got back into acting and began performing in the school shows and I made sure that I was working very hard in my classes. The year that I graduated, my mom was in a wheelchair but it was also the year that I learned that I wanted to work in lighting design.
My freshman year of high school, I was taking honors classes. I worked in the well-funded technical theatre program, and also got the opportunity to take the last couple classes of film photography. Despite the fact that the photography class was always full to the point of people no longer being accepted into the class, there were severe funding cuts to "˜unnecessary' programs. Programs that were cut included: film photography, German language, and Japanese language. This was an especially hard year for my family. Although the doctors had finally found a treatment that worked for my mother, it wasn't too long after that that my grandfather (on my mom's side) committed suicide.
The next year my mom was really able to return to school again. In my last three years of high school, I feel that I accomplished a lot. I took many honors courses, especially in technical theatre and acting. I spent the majority of my time at the theatre and outside of that I was also working on creative writing, physics, chemistry, and algebra classes. During the summers I spent time volunteering for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Green Show. I was able to move up in my field and by my senior year I got the wonderful opportunity to work under Bart Grady as his Assistant Lighting Designer. For the same production (The 39 Steps, a stage adaptation) I was also working as the Projection Designer and helping train the new costume mistresses.
My father and mother were both able to complete their degrees. My mother was also able to return to work. This was a big accomplishment for both of them.
The last two years have been very crazy for me. I moved up to Portland, Oregon to continue my education at Portland State University. I solidified my schooling plans and have worked very hard to achieve the point that I am at today. Moving to Portland has taught me something very important about myself. I have learned that I don't like big cities, even if the city I'm in is a relatively small one. There are too many people that are always in too much of a hurry to see the beauty that is around them. In Ashland there are wide expanses of land that roll into these giant gentle hills on one side and these beautiful coniferous peaks on the opposite side. It has four distinct seasons so you can really feel the earth living around you. Due to these reasons I have decided to move back to my hometown to continue my theatre career.
I believe that this is a really good choice on my end because the theatre program at Southern Oregon University is significantly better than the one at Portland State University is. I have a wonderful supporting group of friends and a loving family.
However, recently my family has moved to Milwaukie, OR. My father is running a small company up here but has been unable develop a strong client base because he's been so busy helping keep the household in working order. We were doing fine because my mom had a good job but they had to let her go when she became very ill. In the last year my mom has had to have multiple surgeries to remove melanoma, and an abdominal surgery. These surgeries caused the treatment she had been using for the last five years to slowly fail.
I have been lucky enough to help support my family so that they could get back on to their feet. I know that right now they are unable to help me with my schooling or help ease my way back into my community in Ashland. That is why I so humbly ask for any donations that you feel that you can spare.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my story and my family. It's a great feeling just knowing that someone would take the time to consider me.
Sincerely,
Cassidy
Organizer
Kassy Adams
Organizer
Milwaukie, OR
