by Margauex P., 16
“There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” – Amanda Gorman
Twenty-year-old Victoria Billyard was born and raised in Interlaken, a borough in New Jersey. Victoria is a bright light; she tries her best to surround herself with good influences. Victoria has been with the Blue Dot community since 2021. During that time, she gained valuable experiences helping others and lifelong friendships she never knew she needed to grow. She’s a girl full of life and hope. Because of her and her friends at Blue Dot, they started to bring in more people to create a more extensive program for the organization. She loves to help out other communities with Blue Dot, and she gets to hang out and cook with her friends.
Like most with her condition, epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes seizures, which are brief episodes of involuntary movement they give up, but Victoria is not like most people. Even though epilepsy changed her life from the age of two, she did not let it stand in the way of her goals. She worked hard and pushed herself to graduate high school at 21. She now goes to college, and even though she doesn’t know what she wants to do, she focuses on her education, which is very important for everyone. Her condition isn’t always easy; she always gets a little spooked when she doesn’t know the next time a seizure will happen, which prevents her from doing most things by herself, like driving.
Most girls always have many things to regret; Victoria regrets not saying sorry; we all make that mistake and have regrets that we wish we apologized for, but she learned through her past arguments and sometimes realized sorry can fix past mistakes.
Victoria and I have something in common, and maybe so does a third of the world—we don’t believe in miracles. I know it’s horrible to say sometimes, but just like Victoria, we believe in facts. We believe in something we can see and then imagine. You can think positively when bad things happen, but when you see it, you can feel it.
Victoria may have some unique qualities that not many people have, but she is also just an ordinary girl who likes to talk to her friends online because she doesn’t have the same in-person interactions as we all do. Her favorite color is pink, and she loves burgers from Shake Shack. Of course, her favorite show is Gilmore Girls. I mean, whose isn’t?
Learning about Victoria and the Blue Dot community gave me the perspective that everybody goes through a lot of hardship and difficulties in life, but that doesn’t mean it needs to stop you from living to the fullest potential in life. And with Victoria, I know she’s putting herself out there and trying new things, which can be very difficult for anyone, so I applaud her for her brilliance and bravery.
Victoria Billyard inspires us all because she is brave enough to see and be the light, even in the face of challenges.
Bridge Ink 