Summer shares lessons learned from her memoir on appreciating life.
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One Often-ignored Key to Having a Healthy Mind and Body

When I was a teenager, I learned first-hand to appreciate having a healthy mind and body. I was privileged to volunteer at my mother’s job. At the time she was working in a mental hospital. The hospital had a volunteer program for teenagers.…
Summer shares a lesson learned from her memoir on how to learn from the past
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Learn from the past. Don’t dwell on it.

“Learn from the past and don’t dwell on shortcomings” has been a major lesson for me throughout my life. As I continue sharing the lessons learned that I wrote at the end of each chapter of my memoir, Life After Birth, I reflect on…
Summer Owens be thankful
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How to Be Thankful- Saying Thank You is Just a Start

  Throughout my journey as a single mother, one of the greatest lessons I've learned is how to be thankful. Thankful for big things. Thankful even for the smallest things. Throughout my memoir, I share lots of people and things that…
Young Summer Owens now on a mission to stop bullying
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They Called Me Boy and Beaver: 3 Tips to Stop Bullying

When I decided it was time for me to share my story of how I became a teen mother yet beat the statistics, I began to reflect on my life. And how I got to a place where my self-esteem was so low that I felt that just because this boy told me…

Celebrating an Anniversary – 10 Years After Sharing My Secret Story

When you think about celebrating an anniversary, we usually think of happy occasions like marriage anniversaries or work anniversaries. We also think about anniversaries we don’t necessarily celebrate but do remember like the loss of loved…
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20 Years Later. A Teen Mom Homecoming Achievement.

Have you ever achieved something that you didn't even consider pursuing because you didn't even know it was a "thing." Well, here's my teen mom homecoming achievement. 20 years I did just that when I was named Ms. University of Memphis 2000-2001. Teen…

Five Lessons Your Teenager Will Learn From a High School Life Skills Curriculum

If you remember being a teen, then you know just how challenging that time was. Between meeting your parents’ approval and the acceptance from friends, a teen’s life is full of uncertainty because you’re in the middle of learning who you…
Marker where Bertha Looney and the Memphis State 8 fought racial injustice
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Racial Injustice – A Message from the President

No, this isn’t a message from that president. This one. Being a black woman with friends of all races, I feel it is important for me to address racial injustice. As the president of the national alumni association of my alma mater,…
Middle school students who used a successful character education curriculum

What Makes a Successful Character Education Curriculum

I don’t think anyone sets out to do or create anything without the goal of success, and that’s why it was my mission to create a successful character education curriculum. I had completely exposed myself and felt completely vulnerable after…