Our financial situation disintegrated just after my father's departure from our lives. 随着父亲离我们而去，家里的经济状况急转直下。

　　This thrust my mother, my sister and I out of the relative comfort of middle-class life and into the almost constant struggle to make ends meet. 我的母亲，姐姐和我，一下子从衣食无忧的中产阶级生活掉入了勉强维持生计的生活状态。

　　Thus, I was one of roughly 60 percent of women of color who find finances to be a major barrier to their educational goals. 就这样，我与其他差不多60%的女性有色人种一样，财务状况成为我们求学的主要障碍。

　　Thankfully, Norfolk State University provided me with full funding, and I was able to achieve my bachelor's in physics. 幸运的是，诺福克州立大学为我提供了全额奖学金，我成功获得了物理学学士学位。

　　After graduation, and despite knowing that I wanted a PhD in astrophysics, I fell through the cracks. 毕业以后，尽管怀揣成为天体物理学博士的梦想，但现实依旧不遂人愿。

　　It was a poster that saved my dream, and some really incredible people and programs. 是一张海报拯救了我的梦想，当然还多亏一些好心人和项目。

　　The American Physical Society had this beautiful poster encouraging students of color to become physicists. 美国物理学会为了鼓励有色人种学生成为物理学家，设计了一张非常美的海报。

　　It was striking to me because it featured a young black girl, probably around 12 years old, 它深深打动了我，海报上是一个黑人小女孩，也许12岁左右，

　　looking studiously at some physics equations. 在非常认真地解物理方程。

　　I remember thinking I was looking directly back at the little girl who first dared to dream this dream. 这让我想起了曾经的自己，那个曾经敢于梦想的小女孩。

　　I immediately wrote to the Society and requested my personal copy of the poster, which to this day still hangs in my office. 我立刻给学会发了封邮件，请他们给我一张海报，现在这张海报还挂在我的办公室里。

　　I described to them in the email my educational path, and my desire to find myself again in pursuit of the PhD. 我在邮件里讲述了我的求学之路，也表达了自己想继续攻读博士学位，实现自我价值的想法。

　　They directed me to the Fisk-Vanderbilt University Bridge Program, 他们将我介绍到“菲斯克-范德堡大学桥梁计划”，

　　itself an intersection of the master's and PhD degrees at two institutions. 这个计划本身就是个交叉点，涵盖来自两所大学的硕士和博士学位。

　　After two years out of school, they accepted me into the program, and I found myself again on the path to the PhD. 我在离开学校两年后，加入这个计划，再次踏上了成为博士的道路。