“I made it through my storm / And my test because you were there / To carry me through my mess / I am stronger, I am stronger / I am wiser, I am wiser / I am better, I am better / Anybody better, I am better / I can stand here and tell you / I made it”

Tymeyah Hall told us her favorite song is “Never Could Have Made It,” by Marvin Sapp. And as we read the lyrics we thought, this is more than a song, this has been a mantra, a guiding star for Tymeyah as she navigated the turbulent waters of a senior year in a pandemic. Surviving senior year was not easy or simple for Tymeyah, much less finding the space, time and energy to thrive. Asked about her fondest memories of high school, Tymeyah was clear: “9th - 11th grade.”

12th grade? We don’t know her.

Now don’t let these gorgeous pictures with deep laughs and a radiant smile fool you: this was a hard year. Finding times of ease or happiness could at times feel elusive for Tymeyah, especially in a virtual year bereft of interpersonal support and interaction, and long on constant class assignments, but Tymeyah continually came back to herself. Her life, as she told us, “[has] its ups and downs but I will always work through my obstacles.”

And so she did. Despite the difficulties, Tymeyah kept at it and now lists graduating high school and going to college as her proudest accomplishments. “When I look back over what he brought me through / I realize I made it because I had you to hold on to / Now I am stronger / Now I am wiser / I am better, so much better / I made it”

Tymeyah says she would tell her younger self to “work hard, focus on what you believe in, and make right choices,” and she told us that her major focus right now is to make her goals become a reality. Dreaming and conceiving of goals, and then working hard to see them through, have already carried Tymeyah so far through tumult and hardship, and we celebrate her as she continues to make her way. When we asked Tymeyah for the truest, most beautiful story of her life that she could imagine, she told us, “I am a very knowledgeable, Black young lady with a bright future ahead of [me].” Please join us in celebrating Tymeyah, all that she has already accomplished, and all that bright future that is yet to come.