Brandi Freeman smiles brightly when she talks about being a Duck.
“I always wanted to be a Duck, ever since I was really little,” she said. “I remember my parents liking the Ducks. I always wanted to be here.”
Freeman, a 29-year-old senior psychology major, has only been at the UO since fall 2012 and has already made her mark. As the communications and fundraising coordinator at Ducks After Dark, Freeman has organized some of the program’s biggest events of the year. In addition, Freeman works with a local addiction recovery program, volunteers in organizing local marathons and is part of a UO search committee for a student activities director. Next year, she hopes to serve as a member on the EMU board and pledge to service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega.

However, the road to the UO has not been an easy one for Freeman. Born to a drug-addicted mother and a father serving a life sentence in prison, Freeman struggled with her background as a child.

“When I was a kid, people used to tell me I would turn out like my mom and dad,” Freeman said.”When people tell you you’re going to be a drug addict or you’re going to have problems forever, I think you really start to believe it.”

When Freeman first began college as a freshman at Southern Oregon University, she developed an addiction to alcohol. For the next four years, she dropped in and out of SOU.

“My life went to a really dark place really fast,” Freeman said. “I figured I was never going back to college, I would never be able to put my life together, I was going to be like my mom and dad. I really thought life couldn’t get better.”
 However, Freeman was able to rebuild her life with a 12 step addiction recovery program, and enrolled in Mt. Hood Community College before attending UO. The experience inspired her to volunteer through similar programs and help others overcome addiction.

“I would watch them put their lives back together and for the first time I felt like I was doing what God intended for me to do,” Freeman said. “And it didn’t matter all the bad stuff I’d been through. I felt like everything happened for a reason.”
According to Freeman’s Ducks After Dark co-worker AJ Bottimore, Freeman is an inspiration to the Ducks After Dark team, for her work in and out of the program.

“I think I speak for the whole Ducks After Dark team when I say she definitely makes us all try to do that much better,” Bottimore said. “She’s definitely changed the world for all of us.”

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