Genogram

After reflecting on my genogram, I noticed some common themes throughout the lineage of the generations but also a difference between the different generations. The male side of my Dad’s side of my family all had occupations related to soccer. My great grandfather was a professional soccer player in France, my grandfather a professional soccer player in Haiti in France, and my father a professional soccer player in Haiti and the U.S. This makes sense in the push in drive that my father implemented into my brother and me. We both have and still are working very hard towards our dream of being professional soccer players. Soccer is something that I’ve always had a passion for and has gotten me into the position here today at Wake Forest. Continuing my Dad’s side of the family, his parents went to high school but never attending college. After my grandfather’s professional soccer career, my grandmother and him opened a store/shop in Haiti called Qualitex. This store had everything from food to clothing almost like a Haitian Walmart. They managed this store together for about 20 years before closing down and retiring. The store was a success story them where they made a decent living and made it through the rough times of the corrupt Haitian government. My grandparents wanted a better life for their children, so they really enforced going to college. My aunt was also an athlete playing basketball throughout her childhood in Haiti then gaining a scholarship to a university to play basketball. She graduated from school with an accounting degree and major and now owns her own, successful, accounting firm in Haiti. My dad’s younger sister is a teacher for students with special needs in Haiti and loves what she does. She also attended college and majored in business but found out that’s not what she wanted to do. Lastly, like I said my dad played professional soccer as well as attending college here in the states where he ended up coaching women’s college soccer at Florida Institute of Technology.

Now for my mother’s side of the family it is quite a bit different. Her biological father is out of contact and left her life at a young age. Her and I have no idea of his current or previous status as no one in our family really knows him. My grandmother got remarried to my grandfather in Santa Cruz, California where my mother grew up. Like my dad’s side of the family my grandparents didn’t attend college either. They were strategist survivors, they did what jobs they could to get by and support my mother. They too wanted a better life for my mother, so they pushed her to go to college and get her degree. So, she first attended University of Hawaii completely supporting herself financially through college then later coming to Florida Institute of Technology to finish her bachelors and master’s degree. She has always loved math but had no idea of where it was going to take her. She got an internship at an engineering company that was willing to pay for her master’s degree and has been at that company ever since. There is a lot I have learned about my family through this process of making a genogram as well as always thinking about what I want to do for myself and for my future. I have noticed some similar values and patterns throughout both sides of my family. Both wanting to send their children to college to further education and careers. This is something that has somewhat transferred over to me, but I also want to leave somewhat of a freedom to my kids in the future. I really value creativity and expressing yourself and sometimes college may not be the best path for that, it is different for everyone. My grandfather passed away in the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and my dad passed away in 2015 from a heart attack. These are two big things in my life that has affected me and my values very much throughout my life. My grandmother lost both of the men she loved most in her life but remained strong and decided to go back to work in Haiti. She now collects the taxes for my uncle for the gas stations he owns in Haiti. She is almost 80

years old and acts like she’s twenty. She is a huge inspiration to me and reminds me every day of how important it is to live life like you are young and always push yourself to the best that you can be. Without my father in my life I have grown and taken on the values and life lessons he’s expressed to me when I was younger and couldn’t really understand. He always told me to do what Landen wants, and not what others want for you. I think this is very important in careers especially because you have to have a trust, faith, and understanding in who you are and what you want. Even if understanding what you want is understanding that you don’t know what you want. Finally, my mom has taken on the challenge of supporting my siblings and I on our own. She’s taught me to always have a good work ethic and love what you do and love those who you do it with. She loves her job as a thermal analysist and loves her coworkers but loving her three children and supporting us is what she enjoys the most. Love is the biggest value I have in my life, I’ve learned start to making room for many things in my heart and to start making room for those things and always have more room for new things and people I encounter. I don’t know what specifically I want to add to my own list but I am always open to adding and trying new things.