GrowingUp

Are you ever driving down a busy street looking at all of the cars thinking -- "all of these people have different lives and experiences, I wonder what his/her life is like"? I do that sometimes. For anybody that has ever looked at my car and wondered ... here's the answer!

What can I say about growing up in Mingo Junction? Mingo Junction was a very nice place to live during my early childhood: the days of spending more time outdoors than indoors. It was a very safe community. We would ride our bikes all over town, run all over the neighborhood, explore the woods, play at the park ... and without our parents. Mingo, to me, was the kind of place where a kid could be a kid safely. I would never give that experience up.

I was born at 6:12 am on April 24, 1975 to Denise Marie and Dale Robert Galownia (the best parents in the world) in Steubenville, OH. Our home was a few miles south in a small steel town: Mingo Junction, OH. It was here that I spent the majority of the next 18 years of my life. I have a brother and sister, Chris and Bobbi Jo.

As I approached my teens, I found the town to be too small and isolated. My interests just never seemed to mesh with those of my counterparts in Mingo. At the same time having spent all of my life in that town, going to school with the same group of 65 classmates, I was scared to leave. I did, however, find the courage, in 1989, to tranfer to a Catholic high school in nearby Wheeling, WV, approximately 22 miles south. That ended up being one of the best decisions of my life.

While I enjoyed my high school, my high school years in Mingo Junction were not the most positive experience, but it did help to shape the person that I am and the outlook I have on life. Nevertheless, I spent many years with few friends (primarily my bother and sister) and a limited social life (outside of organized activities and clubs at school). I became a very independent person with interests that match: reading and running. These continue to be the two things I enjoy doing the most. It still is hard to look back and think of all of the fun that I missed by not having people similar to myself around to be friends with. It was then that I knew that I was more suited for a larger city. But I still had a ways to go before getting there.

During my sophomore year in high school, I decided that I wanted a new experience, something really different. It was then that I enquired into the possibility of studying in a foreign country. I ended up participating in the Rotary Internation Youth Foreign Exchange Program my junior year of high school. This is by far the experience that had the largest impact on my life. I spent nine months in beautiful Quito, Ecuador. You can learn more about Quito and my experience by visiting "My Travels". Not only did this experience allow me to gain a fluency in Spanish, but it allowed me the opportunity to grow more individually in one year than I had in the 15 years of my life up to that point. I saw that the world was full of possibilities and that I had the responsibility to seek them out. I finally understood that my life was my responsibility and that any unhappiness I had was a direct result of my decisions. If people brought me down and limited me, it was my fault, not theirs. It was then that I developed the confidence in myself to stop worrying about others and look inside myself for strength. My life was finally in my hands.

I returned to the United States in May of 1992 to see my brother graduate and to begin my senior year of high school. I made the most of it and was very successful. I ended up choosing Bethany College as my next destination. As you'll see later on, my four years at Bethany were unbelievably happy for me. I had a truly wonderful experience. I chose a small liberal arts college to let myself slowly get my feet wet as I moved on with my life. I didn't want to get in over my head too quickly. It ended up being a good decision. I majored in International Econonmics and Spanish and ended up spending my junior year studying in Pamplona, Spain. I had a blast. I felt like my life couldn't get any better. I came back from Spain and completed my senior year at Bethany. I finished first in my class and received a fellowship to attend Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business to work toward my MBA.

Heading to Columbus, Ohio was so exciting. It is funny, I remember crying as I left Mingo Junction. They weren't tears of sadness, but tears of excitement. I was finally heading out, my car loaded with all of my belongings. I knew I would never go back there to live. The two and one-half hour trip to Columbus was so exciting ... I though of all the great things I was going to do over the next couple years. Everything had gone so well since I had been in college and would continue to be that way. My experience in the MBA Program was one of the most eye-opening and humbling experiences of my life.

As I look back at that trip from Mingo to Columbus in May of 1997, I realize that that was when I really became an adult. I let go of my parents as my primary providers that day and took my life into my own hands. I remember my mom crying as I left and now realize that she already knew. I was finally an adult. But being an adult didn't remove any obstacles to life, it only created different ones. I have learned so much about myself since that day in 1997. I never realized my life would turn out as it has. It hasn't always been easy, but it has all been for the best ....