My name is Michael Westbrooks. I was born and raised in Northfield, Ohio, and graduated from Nordonia High School in 2021. I am a Senior at the University of Dubuque, pursuing a degree in Sport Management. I play middle linebacker and defensive end for the football team. As a transfer student my path to UD has been filled with challenges I never saw coming. When I graduated high school, I was full of excitement. I dreamed of college; making new friends and experiencing everything the next chapter of life had to offer. But the reality was so much harder. What I didn’t know then was that along with those opportunities, I would face battles with depression and social anxiety—things I never believed could happen to me. On top of that, life at home weighed heavily on me. My dad’s health began to decline and the fear of losing him never left my mind. At the same time, my mom faced the possibility of losing her job, which meant the stability of everything I grew up with could be taken away at any moment. While trying to adjust to college, I carried this constant worry about my family back home. I felt helpless—like I was watching my world crack while being too far away to fix any of it. My childhood friends were gone, my support system was miles away, and I had no one I trusted to lean on. I avoided team outings, I buried myself in my headphones, and I stayed quiet about the pain I carried. Holding everything in only made me harder to be around, and it began to affect my schoolwork and even my performance on the field—the place I usually felt most alive. But just as I felt like I was slipping too far, I found light in an unexpected place: my teammates. They welcomed me when I didn’t think I deserved to be welcomed. They treated me like family when I felt like I didn’t have one near me. They made space for me at meals, played games with me, laughed with me, and even prayed with me. Slowly, I started to feel human again. These men became brothers to me, and their presence gave me a sense of belonging that I desperately needed.
