North Philly artist struggles to reach her mountaintop

WYDELAH CAMPBELL from North Philadelphia was a motivated, artistic teenager at Roberts Vaux High School, dreaming of going to Moore College of Art and Design, when her world suddenly fell apart.

The stable, two-parent home she was raised in broke up. Her father left. Her mom became addicted to drugs and was in and out of jail.

Campbell's beloved kid sister was sent to a foster home. Her uncle, with whom the family had been living, kicked Campbell out of his house.

She felt abandoned and alone. Her longtime hopes of going to college looked impossible because she felt she should go to work instead to help her family.

"Then I realized that not going to college would make my family situation worse," she said. "I had to do for myself and get my education in order to do for them."

Campbell went to Moore on scholarships but when she got there, she suffered from insecurity until her graphic design teacher, Dorothy Funderwhite, rescued her from self-doubt.

"I'm the type of person who needs words of affirmation," Campbell said. "She gave me those words."

By 2013, her junior year at Moore, Campbell was so strong that even her unexpected pregnancy didn't stop her.

She took two semesters off after her son, Davian, was born, then returned to classes, sometimes with her baby when his father couldn't watch him.

Her favorite teacher, Funderwhite, was fully supportive. Her schoolmates took turns walking Davian around the school so Campbell could focus in class.

"We're an all-women's college," Campbell said. "Everybody has that mother instinct. They knew it was hard for me to raise my baby and go to school. They knew I couldn't do it by myself. They had empathy.

"We have an environment that makes you feel strong and so happy to be a woman," she said.

Campbell, 23, recently graduated from Moore and is working as a freelance graphic designer, hoping to find a permanent job soon.

Her mother is clean and sober. Her sister is out of foster care and staying with an aunt. Both live near Campbell in North Philly.

In her Moore College commencement speech, Campbell, who won the $4,000 Happy Fernandez Women's Leadership Prize for her work in student government, talked about "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" - a Dr. Seuss book she reads to Davian over and over again.

Campbell is inspired by the lines, "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so get on your way!"

The North Philly woman knows a lot about conquering mountains. And after years of climbing, she knows today is her day.