Senior Corina Carter, a basketball standout on campus, has committed to play college basketball at the University of New Mexico.

However, getting there was a hard challenge.

“Growing up, I lived in this neighborhood where there was always bad kids doing bad things all around. So, [my friend and I] would always go play on the basketball court that she had in our spare time,” Corina said.

While growing up, Carter had gotten involved with bad things in the streets. Both of her parents seemingly would not give her the attention she needed because they had to focus more attention on her brother and his needs.

“I started hanging around the bad kids, ‘the wrong group of kids,’ and I started doing things I wasn’t supposed to do,” Carter said.

As a result of hanging out with the wrong group of people, Carter ended up being kicked off multiple teams for her actions on and off the court.

“I got kicked off of the basketball team [at Metzger]. Then, I went to Wagner freshman year and got kicked off because I was bad,” Carter said. “I came to Judson and Coach Corrales did not put up with it. She gave me the first strike and that’s when I started to listen because I really wanted to play basketball.”

Even with being involved with the wrong people, Carter’s main focuses were still basketball and family.

“At home, I see that my family is struggling with money and can’t support me and my siblings,” Carter said. “But I plan on taking care of them when I get myself together.”

After flying over to New Mexico and doing a tour of the school, meeting the girls and the coaches, she knew this college one was the one to choose.

“Being in the hotel and looking out the window, it was an amazing and beautiful view. I had never been around mountains like that and the weather was so calm,” Carter said. “When I met the girls, they reminded me of my old team that I went to before Judson because we clicked right then and there”.

After going through some challenges while growing up, Carter learned to move on from her past, focus on doing the things she loves and being there for her family.