Good Choices Overcome the Bad
Alyssa Mainhart's essay on “the bad choices that I made” has provided her with some good fortune.
The 31-year-old Butler County Community College student's winning essay reveals how she overcame a past of physical abuse, witnessing and blaming herself at age 10 for her cousin's accidental death, a traffic crash that left her partially paralyzed and ultimately using drugs “in hopes that I would die.”
Mainhart's 719-word Live Your Dream essay also celebrates her present and her future.
Because of it, she could receive at total of $17,500 in scholarships from an organization that supports and empowers women.
The essay has already garnered Mainhart $7,500 in scholarships from the Soroptimist International of the Americas at the local, district and regional levels, and is now being considered for an international $10,000 award.
Mainhart said she grew up in Slate Lick, Armstrong County, and her parents divorced when she was 7 years old. Mainhart witnessed her cousin die in a go-cart accident when she was 10 years old, something she considers a triggering event.
“When I think on it, a lot of my survivor's guilt came from that,” she said. “I started isolating myself and acting out.”
She ended up in juvenile detention at one point and was pregnant at age 16. Also, as a teen, Mainhart was in a serious car accident and still has some paralysis in an arm as a result.
At 19 years old, she was in an abusive relationship, lost her three children and became homeless. At one point, she tried to commit suicide, ended up in jail and found out she was once again pregnant.“I lost three kids to the state,” she said. “It's important to say that. That's not me anymore. I was in a really abusive relationship. I was stuck and using drugs. I couldn't be a parent.”Once out of jail, she was paroled to transitional housing and started attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings two to three times per day.Mainhart credits the Lighthouse Foundation's transitional living program and Catholic Charities as well as her 8-year-old son, Gunner, with helping her get off the drugs/jail merry-go-round.“I got a PFA (protection from abuse) order on my ex. That helped a little bit,” she said. “But I think Gunner was the main reason for the turnaround. I had done drugs and jail. Rehab was the only thing left to do. That honestly was my thought process.”With the help of addiction counselors and the support of Narcotics Anonymous, she started beauty school and eventually became the manager at a hair salon.At age 27, she got a job at a drug and alcohol facility and enrolled at BC3 in 2018.Today, Mainhart is serving her fourth semester as president of Rho Phi, BC3's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international academic honor society for two-year colleges and programs.
“A butterfly,” said Morgan Rizzardi, a co-adviser to BC3's Rho Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and the college's associate director of admissions. “She was in this cocoon and felt like there wasn't light at the end of the tunnel. I think she started to realize how much she could overcome, that she had a son to work for. I think Gunner is the center of her life.”Live Your Dream education and training awards are presented to women who provide the primary financial support for their families and give women the resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects, according to the Soroptimists' website.Her essay made a big impression.“We are so pleased to be able to award her our scholarship,” said Becky Plymale, awards committee chairwoman for the Butler County chapter of Soroptimists.“We applaud Alyssa for all of her efforts in turning her life around and wish her only the best as she continues to climb upward,” she said.Mainhart's essay was awarded a $1,500 scholarship Jan. 15 by the Soroptimist International of Butler County and a $1,000 scholarship Feb. 9 by the organization's District 4. The district includes nine Soroptimist International clubs from Harrisburg to Wheeling, W.Va.Her essay was then awarded a $5,000 scholarship March 14 by the organization's North Atlantic Region. The region includes 50 Soroptimist International clubs from 11 states from Maine to West Virginia.The recipient of the Soroptimist International of the Americas' international $10,000 scholarship could be announced in May, Plymale said.In the meantime, Mainhart said she has enough to keep her grounded in the present.
She expects to graduate in December with an associate degree in the addictions recovery certificate program. She plans to also pursue a criminology degree, with a May 2022 projected graduation date.She recently began a full-time position as a residential aide at the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center, a Butler County drug and alcohol treatment facility for women.Mainhart said she soon will also undergo another surgery on her shoulder still damaged from that car accident.She has volunteered in the community by providing free haircuts to homeless veterans as part of the Veterans Affairs' Stand Down events, and with Community Partnership, addressing food insecurity in Butler County.Mainhart says it is a way of paying forward the help she received.“If it wasn't for the social workers at Catholic Charities, I would never have gotten clean or stayed clean,” Mainhart said.“When I first got sober,” she said, “I was the last to find out that the world didn't revolve around me. I had a sponsor through so many things.”The Soroptimist scholarships, Mainhart said, will help her toward her goal of earning a master's degree and serving as a drug and alcohol counselor for women or for geriatric patients.
