Watercolor portrait of a young woman smiling, wearing a blue shirt and has dark long hair.

This artwork was first displayed in an exhibit at the GVSU Mary Idema Pew Library that explored how intimidating entering the college life can be. It included portraits and interviews of GVSU students that discussed leaving their comfort zones and dealing with stress.

"I wanted to be a social worker and work with foster children because I was adopted when I was younger. I was nine years old. My auntie adopted me. And I was in the foster care system for 3 years. I have two siblings, and me and my sister stayed together, and then my brother, he got separated, so I think he got the worse end of the deal because he was at different homes. I feel like I would have the experience as a social worker because I know how foster children feel- sometimes they feel abandoned, they don't have anyone to talk to, things like that. I did just start working with children; right now I'm a preschool teacher.

I think if I could relive one memory it would be our first Christmas after I got adopted. Usually I think on Christmas, before I got adopted, I was with my mom. We didn't have much, so we would just go to like, the community center I think, and they'd pick out one gift or something like that. But this Christmas was a great Christmas. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is, this is amazing.' Like, it would never end. I do remember the Easy Bake Ovens, and a cotton candy machine. And I wanted to cook on it every day." - Anonymous Portrait Subject.