Faith International Academy was home. For a missionary kid, that term doesn’t get a chance to be used very much. Most often, people describe home as being a physical house, but we have the opportunity to pick our homes. FIA was one of mine. I went to FIA as a bright-eyed second grader full of dreams to be remembered and loved. All through elementary I learned to love my classmates and appreciate the little things in life like field trips, teacher for the day, and meriendas. In middle school, I developed my love for science and knowledge. Throughout all of this, FIA started to cultivate my love for sports. Not only did I enjoy it, but it taught me discipline and perseverance which are both things that one cannot live without. High school taught me the most, too much to write out, but if I had to sum it up, it would be the importance of legacy.

FIA taught me that family doesn’t have to be related to you by blood, and friends are something to be cherished. Not only did my friends love me, but my teachers did also. Never have I been in a place where teachers wanted to see their students succeed in all areas of life: academic, mental, and spiritual. FIA gave me a safe place where I could be loved and could love. It became my home. During my last weeks in those all too familiar hallways, I thought about my life and all that had happened within those gates and I remembered my dream of when I first stepped foot into that campus. I wanted to be remembered and loved. No doubt, there was nothing but love that filled those walls as goodbyes were getting ready to be said. As for being remembered, I don’t really know if I will be remembered as a person. For years I wanted to be one that people would remember because of the things I did. If I had to choose one thing to leave the school with for the rest of time, it’s this: I’m not perfect and I don’t have it all together, but the God I love and serve is faithful and He loves me no matter what. I don’t want be remembered for me, I want to be remembered for who God was in me. FIA made me realize that life isn’t about me or the things I did when I was in school, but it’s about the relationships I make and the people I impact. FIA will always have a piece of my heart wherever I go and I pray that the people I came across while I was there would not remember what I did, but remember what Christ did.