Struggles helped push graduate to the top of the class
FRANKLIN — Cindy Briscoe has always told her daughter that whatever happens is what’s meant to be.
It all started at birth when Alexis “Lexi” McGregor was born prematurely.
Looking back, Lexi says she wouldn’t change a thing.
That positive attitude, despite her struggles, has helped her make a difference in her own life and in so many others’ lives.
Lexi described herself as ambitious, but it goes beyond that.
“I like to show how the past brings a better future,” she said.
It’s something that she knows well.
“She has gone through quite a bit,” her mother said. “Too many heartbreaks.”
Early on, it was just mom and daughter. Lexi struggled in school and was even held back in first grade.
It embarrassed her.
Lexi struggled with math and English and couldn’t read very well.
But in the third grade, things started to change.
“It’s weird. I saw this ‘A’ on my paper,” she said.
It was Lexi’s first “A” ever. And that was all it took to spark something inside her.
“A” grades quickly became the standard for Lexi, and that success carried over to other parts of her life.
Lexi is naturally talented in sports, became president of the National Honor Society, was on student council and volunteered for the Middletown Community Foundation.
Almost everything Lexi has set her mind to, she has accomplished.
But there was one thing beyond her control. Lexi’s biological father had never really been part of her life.
“I don’t really talk about it much,” she explained. “I’ve learned to accept that it’s not what I have done, but what he has done.”
A few years back, Lexi visited him in jail.
He was there because investigators arrested him in Texas for not paying Lexi’s child support.
“I needed to tell him it was OK; what you did in the past, it has affected me, but I’m living my life and I’ve been successful,” Lexi said.
Successful is an understatement.
Franklin High Principal Kelli Fromm said she can’t help but smile.
“Lexi — she’s the best and the brightest,” Fromm said.
Fromm remembered Lexi’s goal from back in seventh grade: to graduate as valedic
torian.
“People are better just by being near her,” Fromm said. “She leads by example.”
And sure enough, Lexi accomplished that goal too and was named valedictorian.
But during the spring, she was faced with a new challenge — paying for college.
She went outside of her comfort zone and applied for scholarships, even though she didn’t think she had a chance against half a dozen other outstanding Franklin students.
She received a $100,000 scholarship from the McLane Foundation annual fund.
Despite all of her hard work, Lexi said her success is just as much about her mom.
“She is the one I look up to because I want to be like her,” Lexi said. “I want to take care of my kids like she took care of me.”