They don’t know her favorite thing to do is sing. They don’t know she has one dog, three cats, and two birds. They don’t know that her favorite band is Rascal Flatts, because when she was ten, she went to a concert and got guitarist Jay DeMarcus’s guitar pick.

When people see freshman Tashawna Alexander, they see the wheel chair she has been in since birth.

She was going down the upstairs main hallway when a group of boys congregated around her and not so quietly whispered under their breath, “do a wheelie,” taking on a pack mentality. As they continued to embarrass her, she slowly rolled down the hallway with her head down. In that moment, she wasn’t Tashawna Alexander, she was “the girl in the wheel chair”.

Alexander says she doesn’t mind if people make it difficult for her to maneuver around the hallways.

“Since I’m shorter than everyone, most people can’t see me,” Alexander said. “I don’t think they do it on purpose.”

While Tashawna may be treated differently by some because of the wheelchair, when people cross the line, she chooses not to focus on it.

“I usually try to block everything out,” Alexander said.

She keeps a positive outlook on everything and chooses to focus on the good things in her life rather than the bad. When she talks about her boyfriend, sophomore Justin Gentry, her eyes light up.

“He gets really mad when people pick on me. It makes him more mad than it makes me,” Alexander said.

In the end, there is one thing Alexander said she wants people to know about her.

“I’m kind of shy,” Alexander said. “But once you get to know me, I’m really nice and talkative.”