Those who know senior Malik Owens know an uncommonly kind, intelligent person who seems to be liked by everyone; however, not many people know how difficult his upbringing has been, and how truly incredible his attitude toward life is.

“I was 10 years old when mom got sick; she had a lot of seizures and strokes.”

Malik’s mom faces a diagnosis of Pseudotumor Cerebri in 2010 — a mysterious disease with no cure that has the symptoms of a brain tumor without a tumor being present.  Frequent and severe migraines plague Malik’s mother, forcing her to quit her job as a nurse and undergo her first of many brain surgeries to alleviate her extreme pain.

Malik’s living situation continues to deteriorate as his father became absent, serving a year-long jail sentence. During this time, his mother’s condition worsens.  

The threat of blindness looms behind her agonizing headaches.

She endures three more major operations within the year. Malik describes this as the hardest time of his life.

The stress of his situation weighs down on him — dragging him into depression and causing his grades to plummet.

Yet after a year of his world crumbling around him, a year of sleepless nights and caring for his sick mother and younger siblings, a year of not having a father to provide, Malik decided he wouldn’t let his situation define him.

“The only person who was going to make me better was me.”

Remarkably, Malik chose to completely change his outlook on life by focusing on positivity. Instead of returning from school and going straight to sleep, Malik began doing homework and making music — sculpting the person he wanted to be from his old self.

Now, Malik is determined to attend college and have success in life no matter what his circumstances are because Malik is a person of truly incredible character.