When he was 10, Steven McDonald lost his father to asthma-related complications. Without a father figure in his life, McDonald said he plunged into a phase of verbal altercations, fights at school, poor grades and all the disciplinary trouble that followed.

“I was just really hot-headed,” he said. “People could just, I don’t know, they could bump into me and I would take it the wrong way. I was a sh*t-starter.”

McDonald’s half-brother had also lost his dad a year earlier. McDonald said their mother went through an immense amount of stress, working to provide for both her troubled kids as a single mother.

McDonald began turning his life around during his junior year of high school when his mom confessed her feelings to him and his brother, saying, “All I want is for you to try to be someone and to do your best.”

“I kind of decided … I should stop allowing my dad’s death to dictate my future because all in all I know he wouldn’t want me to go this route in my life,” McDonald said.

Now, the sophomore neuroscience and psychology major works to make the most of his fresh start. McDonald said his focus is staying on top of his grades, and he recently received a resident adviser position for the next school year.

“I didn’t get to where I am now by myself. I had a lot of people guiding me so now I’m at a place where I can finally help others and guide them,” McDonald said. “Cause it’s not easy—some people lose themselves and they have troubles. I feel like, especially with the RA position, I can give back and I can contribute.”

Looking back on his outbursts in the past, McDonald said that he had to lash out. He’s more resilient now for it, he said, and he chooses to make something positive out of his father’s passing.

“It was never the fact that I couldn’t do well, or I couldn’t be great. It was just a matter of me not applying myself,” McDonald said. “I’m making her (my mother) proud and I’m not going to stop.”

Published on March 23, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Momin: mrafi@syr.edu