Four years ago, I found myself deciding between Michigan State and the University of Michigan. I didn’t care which school I ended up at, I just wanted to get out of my small town. It's a town so small that it’s technically a village. It's the village of Edwardsburg. I was a pageant queen, nerd, runner, swimmer, lifeguard, friend, daughter, sister, and so much more. I fully embraced all of these identities, except, perhaps, the most important one. I was a small town girl, but I hated that about myself.
As a pageant queen, I served as a representative for our community despite an inability to tolerate it. I had lived in Edwardsburg for almost my entire life, going to school with the same people every day and seeing those faces everywhere I went. I saw them at the mall, the grocery store, and even on vacation. Everyone knew everything about me and they knew my family. My grandfather had been a principal at the local school and many of my teachers were his students. In their eyes, I was George Monaghan’s granddaughter.
I grew to hate the monotony of it all. I wanted to be able to escape the watchful gaze of my peers, my teachers, and everyone who knew me everywhere I went. I craved living in a city where no one would know me. A tour of Michigan showed me how liberating a 500-person lecture hall could be. I walked the large campus and loved every time when I got lost. I could finally be anonymous. I had finally found an atmosphere that catered to my inner introvert.
That all changed one fateful day. May 3, 2016, marks the day of a tragic car accident that took the life of a beautiful 16-year-old girl. The accident was only a mile and a half from my house and it really shocked me. She was 16 and carefree, on her way to take final exams at the community college nearby. Prom was in four days and spring was finally in the air. A man in a truck failed to stop at the stop sign for the intersection and changed thousands of lives in that instant.
Never have I seen something so beautiful come out of such a devastating event. The town came together in a matter of minutes. A GoFundMe campaign was started to help pay for the funeral expenses. The goal was $20,000 and after the first hour was over $1,000 was raised. Today, the campaign has over $15,000 with 258 donors. The funeral filled the church from wall to wall and the funeral procession was long enough to require police to block off the intersections.
Makayla Rose McKenzie was many things. She was a lover of God, a best friend, a daughter, a sister, Miss Teen Edwardsburg 2014, a singer, an actress, and much much more. She was also a small town girl and she embraced it. She was heavily involved in the Miss Edwardsburg Scholarship Pageant, musicals at the high school, and events at her church.
Makayla may no longer be here, but her death taught me how important the small town girl identity is. I finally realized how much of a community I came from and how fortunate I truly am. There are hundreds of people who care about me back home in Edwardsburg and I have never been more grateful for the role that they have played and continue to play in my life. Being from Edwardsburg has created an unbreakable bond between myself and all of the people who have influenced my life.
